by CHiPs star busted
Larry Wilcox, best known as the “Jon” in the “Ponch and Jon story” on “CHiPs,” has been sentenced to three years of probation and 500 hours of community service for stock fraud.
Wilcox, 63, was sued by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in October of 2007, and he pled guilty to securities fraud last November. Last Friday’s sentencing could have gone much worse for Wilcox, who could easily have gone to prison for five years.
The actor and producer gained superstardom in the late 1970s as Jon Baker, Erik Estrada’s sidekick, on the Los Angeles crime drama “CHiPs,” which ran from 1977 to 1983 (although Wilcox left the show a year earlier). On-set bickering between Wilcox and Estrada, usually over Estrada’s preferential treatment, eventually resulted in Wilcox being off the show for its final season, although most viewers only remember the show with both stars.
After “CHiPs,” Wilcox went on to start his own production company and produced “The Ray Bradbury Theater” in the late 1980s.
Apparently Wilcox was not always as straight-laced as his onscreen persona. FBI agents say he was caught paying kickbacks to undercover agents posing as corrupt pension fund managers. At his sentencing, Wilcox showed remorse and regret, stressing that the incident is not indicative of who he is as a person.
Similar to my weakness for shows like “Celebrity Rehab,” I find myself intrigued by this story, not because of the sleaziness of it, but because it still fascinates me how we place celebrities on a pedestal, only to shine a spotlight on them, almost with a mob mentality, when they fall.
Some other little-known facts about Wilcox:
He is a Marine and served in Vietnam.
He is a race car driver, motorcycle enthusiast, jet skier, avid fan of horses, and did his own stunts during his run on “CHiPs.”
Produced the movie “Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratton Story.”
Has a reputation in Hollywood for his extensive charity work.
I remember the show. Often greed seems to be the motivating factor these days, justified by some perceived need or want. An honorable man must LIVE his ideals at all times no mater what the cost. This seems to be an example of a man who lost that point of view. Doing a wrong thing, KNOWING it to be a wrong thing is my personal definition of sin. The dues are always internally paid, long before some perceived, presumed or promoted afterlife judgment.
Everybody makes mistakes. It’s just that most of us don’t have to be accountable to the entire TV viewing public when we do it. He’s human.
I’ve always had a hard time understanding greed when you already have to so much more than most. I think it’s simply that money can corrupt people far more easily than those of us without any of it probably think! (I’d like to get some and test that theory.)