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)