Digest

Jackson scouts Maryland for vacation home

By TIMES WIRES
Published July 5, 2007

Michael Jackson has been hunting for real estate on Maryland's Eastern Shore for a vacation home, a publicist for the pop star said. The self-proclaimed King of Pop visited the rural peninsula last week "for about 24 hours, " but has not made a purchase, Raymone Bain told the Washington Post. Jackson, 48, is not limiting his search to the Chesapeake region. He has since "gone up the coast" to look elsewhere, Bain said.

Rep not wild about Francis' empire

A former sales representative for Mantra Films Inc. and Girls Gone Wild has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the two companies, their founder, Joe Francis, and another person. Tranae Hammond says in the lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles that she was the victim of repeated acts of sexual harassment by a supervisor named Ron and was fired after coming forward, the Associated Press reported. Francis, who makes an estimated $29-million a year from videos of young women exposing their breasts and being shown in other sexually provocative situations, wasn't accused of any direct sexual harassment. The lawsuit alleges he improperly managed the companies and failed to investigate or take preventive action. Ron's last name was listed as "unknown" in the lawsuit. Francis, 34, is in jail in Reno, Nev., in a federal tax evasion case. Mantra Films didn't respond to an e-mail on Tuesday.

Pete Doherty will head to rehab

Pete Doherty, British rocker and the boyfriend tied to supermodel Kate Moss' onetime drug troubles, pleaded guilty to a drug charge Tuesday after arriving so late to court in London that the judge had issued an arrest warrant. Judge Davinder Lachhar warned Doherty that he had one last chance to avoid prison. Doherty, 28, who arrived in court at midday, also pleaded guilty to failing to appear on time without a reasonable excuse, the Associated Press reported. He admitted possessing quantities of crack cocaine, heroin, cannabis and ketamine, as well as to two driving offenses on May 5. Lachhar deferred sentence to Aug. 7 on the condition that Doherty enter a detox program July 16. "It's rehab or jail, " Doherty told reporters as he left.

[Last modified July 4, 2007, 23:37:38]