Former Teen Mom star Amber Portwood, 21, was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday for possession of a controlled substance and a parole violation.
The Daily Mail is reporting that the once glamorous MTV star showed up in Madison County Court in Anderson, Indiana in shackles and a striped prison jumpsuit. She hopes of fix everything by evading jail time by enrolling in a renowned drug and alcohol rehab center. Under a plea deal, she pled guilty to one count of felony possession of a controlled substance and one count of parole probation violation.
She was arrested on December 22 for possession of hydrocodone pills but this was one of a long list of criminal offenses for which the former star has been charged recently. Last June, Portwood was convicted of assaulting her ex-fiancé and the father of her child, three year-old Leah Shirley, for which she was given a suspended two-year jail sentence.
Court records also show that she was accused of battery and public intoxication in connection with a fight at a restaurant last month, and was cited for not obtaining her GED or completing anger management classes as required, according to The Associated Press.
If she successfully completes the court-mandated treatment program, Portwood will avoid a five-year prison sentence, but if she causes any more trouble, Judge David Happe told her that she will be put behind bars immediately.
“I know it is going to be hard but I have a lot to lose – I have a daughter,” Portwood told the Judge. “All I can do is try. I have a lot of people behind me.”
She went on to explain that she has been “doing pills” since she was 13.
“I think about my daughter all the time and I did not really do that before,” she told the judge. “I always thought about when I was going to get more pills. I am just a better person when I am off them. I remember when I was sober after rehab I was happier then too. The pills were out of control, I was taking ten pills at a time. I want my life back. That was not me.”
Part of the deal is a $10,000 college trust fund that Portwood must set up for her daughter.
“You have been in the very unusual circumstances of a young person making a lot of money and not holding down a real job,” Judge Happe told her. “You understand that most people without a high school education do not make $100,000 plus a year? You have to understand that you will be expected to hold down a real job in this program.”
Portwood, who recently completed a rehab program at Seasons Recovery Center in Malibu, California after a June, 2011 suicide attempt, will remain in Madison County Jail until her Drug Court hearing on Thursday. In the meantime, her daughter Leah is in police custody.
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