Stevie J’s long legal odyssey is over: the Love & Hip Hop Atlanta star managed to avoid jail time in his ongoing child support payment case. As we reported recently, Stevie had been staring down the barrel of a six-month sentence after acknowledging that he both skipped out on a total of $1.3 million in child support payments between 1999 and 2015 *and* violated his parole last year by doing cocaine.
The U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case had asked the court to make an example of Stevie by sentencing him to time behind bars, and, for a moment, things looked bleak indeed. (Though you wouldn’t know it to look at Stevie’s Twitter or Instagram timelines: the guy is one of the most upbeat personalities on reality TV, if not the most upbeat.)
But the judge just handed down his verdict, and the threat of prison time is no more. According to TMZ, Stevie instead has to pay the full amount he skipped out on, meaning his wallet is about to get lighter to the tune of $1,304,835.86. He’ll also be on parole for the next three years, unless he can pay the debt off before then.
Stevie’s guilty plea was the deciding factor, along with the statement he made in court. “I accept full responsibility for not fully financially supporting my children when I was younger,” part of Stevie’s statement read. “But I’ve stepped up to the plate now and I fully support my children not only financially, but they are the closest individuals to me.”
Shortly after the news broke, Stevie celebrated with a simple statement on Instagram:
And, just a little while after that, he extended the good vibes by sharing a photo with three of those “closest individuals” to him:
Leave It To Stevie, Stevie J’s latest reality endeavor, airs Monday nights at 9 on VH1, right after Love & Hip Hop.
(Photo credits: Stevie J jail update via Instagram)
