SANTA MONICA : Billy Preston Sentenced to Drug Recovery Program
Musician Billy Preston, who gained fame as an occasional keyboard player for the Beatles, was sentenced Friday to drug rehabilitation and house arrest on charges stemming from attacks on two day laborers.
Preston, who pleaded no contest on Sept. 4 to cocaine and assault charges, was ordered to serve nine months at a live-in drug treatment center followed by three months under house arrest, a court spokesman said. Superior Court Judge James Albracht also put Preston on five years probation.
Under a plea agreement, prosecutors last month dropped sex-related charges against Preston.
Preston, 45, had originally been charged with possessing cocaine, annoying a child and exhibiting pornographic material in connection with an alleged encounter with a 16-year-old youth in August, 1991.
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