Tom Cipriano, the Howard Stern associate from Montgomery County who made a career as the prank-calling Captain Janks, has cut a deal to settle charges that he stiffed at least a dozen bar owners out of appearance fees of several hundred dollars apiece.
"I'm willing to do anything to make amends," Cipriano told me Tuesday, the day after he pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to a charge of deceptive business practices. He spent weeks in jail last spring after failing to post bail.
In an agreement brokered by Assistant District Attorney Brad Richman and public defender Carol Sweeney, Cipriano was sentenced to eight years' supervised probation and ordered to pay $5,926 in restitution. Richman said that if Cipriano repays within three years, he can petition to have the remainder of the probation terminated.
Cipriano blamed a drug addiction for his conduct, and told Judge Steven O'Neill that he has been clean for a year.
"It's been a difficult year and I'm glad I can move forward," Cipriano said in an interview. "I apologized. It was not my intention to cheat them."
After Cipriano's arrest, Stern sidekick Artie Lange - now fighting his own demons - threw a fund-raiser for Cipriano.
Cipriano said he was looking for a place to stage a second benefit because his current job - school crossing guard for a district he declined to name - "is not enough to pay a lot of restitution."
"I'll do anything," he said. "Throw pies at me, or have one of those booths where you throw something at a bull's-eye and I get soaked."
source: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/84090387.html
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