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Sunday 24 of November 2024

Comedian Artie Lange spared prison term for drug charge


FILE – In this Feb. 15, 2017, file photo, comedian Artie Lange attends a premiere for HBO's television comedy series
FILE – In this Feb. 15, 2017, file photo, comedian Artie Lange attends a premiere for HBO's television comedy series "Crashing," in which he has a recurring role, at the Avalon Hollywood nightclub in Los Angeles. A New Jersey judge on Friday, June 1, 2018, ordered Lange to serve four years of probation and complete an outpatient drug treatment program, sparing the Hoboken, N.J., resident a prison term after he pleaded guilty in December 2017 to possessing heroin during a May 2017 traffic stop on the Garden State Parkway. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File),FILE – In this Feb. 15, 2017, file photo, comedian Artie Lange attends a premiere for HBO's television comedy series "Crashing," in which he has a recurring role, at the Avalon Hollywood nightclub in Los Angeles. A New Jersey judge on Friday, June 1, 2018, ordered Lange to serve four years of probation and complete an outpatient drug treatment program, sparing the Hoboken, N.J., resident a prison term after he pleaded guilty in December 2017 to possessing heroin during a May 2017 traffic stop on the Garden State Parkway. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Artie Lange has been spared a prison term for possessing heroin.

A judge on Friday ordered the comedian who has struggled with drug addiction to serve four years of probation. The Hoboken resident also must complete an outpatient drug treatment program.

The charge stemmed from a May 2017 traffic stop on the Garden State Parkway. Lange pleaded guilty in December, when Essex County prosecutors agreed to drop a 2016 cocaine possession charge.

Prosecutors wanted the 50-year-old comedian sent to an inpatient treatment program. But Lange told the judge he preferred outpatient treatment because he needs to work.

Lange is a cast member in the HBO series “Crashing.” He also performed on the Fox sketch comedy series “Mad TV” and spent nearly a decade as a co-host on “The Howard Stern Show.”