Names and faces
Former Dance Moms reality- TV star Abby Lee Miller was sentenced Tuesday to a year and a day in prison for bankruptcy fraud and for taking $ 120,000 worth of Australian currency into the country without reporting it. A federal judge in Pittsburgh also ordered Miller to pay a $ 40,000 fine and spend two years on probation after her release. Miller, 50, pleaded guilty in both cases last year. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Melucci told the court that Miller went from being a “dance mom in the bankruptcy case to dance con.” Prosecutors said she tried to cheat her creditors by hiding $ 775,000 worth of income and deserved prison. Miller’s attorneys argued for probation, saying her creditors were made whole after the fraud was discovered. During sentencing, Miller read a lengthy statement in which she apologized and said the way she handled her money wasn’t an attempt to deceive anyone but just a way to keep her business running. She said she intended to repay everyone but that it became too complicated. The Dance Moms star was known for her brash behavior and pursuit of perfectionism from her dance students. The show follows a class of Miller’s elite students and the perilous relationship she has with the girls’ mothers. Critics of Dance Moms accuse Miller of being emotionally abusive toward the girls, and many episodes show her students dissolving into tears after a harsh critique. Miller announced in March that she was leaving the show.
With four NBA championships and a cult turn at portraying a genie on the silver screen under his belt, Shaquille O’ Neal maybe aiming his sights at elected office. “In 2020, I plan on running for sheriff,” he told Atlanta’s NBC affiliate WXIA last weekend. While O’Neal, 45, has residency in both Georgia and Florida and could potentially run in either state, he calls Henry County home. The county, with about 215,000 people southeast of Atlanta, will have a sheriff ’ s race in 2020. “This is not about politics. This is about bringing people closer together,” O’Neal said. “You know, when I was coming up, people love and respected the police, the deputies. And I want to be the one to bring that back, especially in the community I serve.” It wouldn’t be a particularly shocking move for the former basketball star, who has long shown a deep interest in policing. He’s already a deputy marshal in Lafayette, La., as reported by Southern Living. While the title is mostly honorary, Lafayette City Marshal Brian Pope told the Daily Advertiser, “There are times when he does come in and work with us. He’s worked warrants with us before.” He’s also a reserve police officer in Florida, and, last December, O’Neal was sworn in as a Clayton County sheriff’s deputy in Georgia.