view raw text
BENNY FINED 0,000 AND SENTENCE SUSPENDED 4 NEW YORK, N. Y., April 4. Jack Benny, star of radio and screen, today was fined 510,000 and sentenced to one year in jail, execution suspended, on smuggling charges. The sentence was a fine of ,000, and the suspended jail term on one count of smuggling jewelry, 2,500 on a count of transporting the jewelry and ,500 on one count of concealing the jewelry. Bennys plea -came soon after he entered the courtroom. His admission of guilt was discounted in advance. Before court opened Col. William J. Donovan, Bennys counsel, said he had advised the radio prankster to plead guilty. Benny, whose air waves salary is reported to be 5,000 a week, was charged with having smuggled, transported and concealed jewelry to the value of ,131. The items consisted of one gold bracelet and two gold clips. The jewelry was purchased in Paris and given by Benny to Albert N. Chapereau to bring into the United States. Chapereau, posing as a consular agent for Nicaragua, claimed that he was entitled to customs privileges. Arrested during the smuggling investigation, Chapereau was exposed as a fraud.
