Victor Willis of
the Village People enters rehab

The original policeman in the 1970s disco band the Village People plans to enter the Betty Ford Center following his no contest plea to drug possession charges, his publicist said Wednesday.

Victor Willis was arrested in March in South San Francisco after police stopped his car and found cocaine and drug paraphernalia. He had been wanted since October after failing to appear in San Mateo County superior court on another drug charge.

Willis entered his plea in July and at a September 5 hearing was sentenced to three years' probation. The San Mateo County probation department had provided a report to Willis attorney Mark Geragos recommending that Willis receive supervised probation on the condition that he complete a residential treatment program, said the singer's San Diego-based publicist, Alice Wolf.

Willis, who has been in custody since his arrest, plans to begin a 90-day treatment program at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., upon his release, Wolf said. Willis will then move to a secondary residential treatment program in Southern California for an additional six months or longer, Wolf said.

Willis, who cowrote the hits "Macho Man," "YMCA," and "In the Navy," left the Village People in 1980. (AP)