Sopranos star on probation

2002-04-24 09:00

New York - Robert Iler, the teenage actor who plays the troubled son of a mob boss on the TV show The Sopranos, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to petty larceny and was sentenced to three years probation.

Iler could have received one year in prison for the misdemeanour, but under the terms of a plea agreement, prosecutors recommended the lighter sentence and Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Daniel FitzGerald accepted it.

Iler and three friends allegedly robbed two teenage Brazilian boys of $40 on July 3, 2001, outside a New York delicatessen. The victims later identified Iler and his friends as the culprits.

The 17-year-old Iler, who plays AJ Soprano, the sulky son of Tony Soprano on the hit HBO show about an organised crime family in New Jersey, made no statement after sentencing.

But his manager, Jeff Mitchell, said, "He wanted me to express how sorry he is for all the grief and trouble everyone went through."

In pretrial hearings that began on Monday, the police officer who arrested Iler testified that when he searched the actor he found a hot marijuana pipe and marijuana.

Also pleading guilty with Iler was one of his co-defendants Alban Selimaj (17).

Michael Cournede (20), who will go to trial next month, was found holding a box cutter when police searched him the night of his arrest.

One of the victims said the muggers brandished a box cutter and said, "Give us your money. Do you wanna die, do you wanna die?"

The fourth alleged mugger, who has not been identified because he is under 16, is being tried in family court.

- Reuters