Celebrity Mound

A rape charge against Rikki Rockett has been dropped after authorities determined that the Poison drummer was not in the state at the time of the alleged crime.

Authorities say they are now looking for a man with a history of passing himself off as a rock musician to pick up women.

Rockett was accused of raping a woman at a central Mississippi casino in September 2007 and arrested in March. The Neshoba County district attorney’s office confirmed Tuesday that the charges were dropped.

Rockett said he was in California when the rape was alleged.

“I was with my fiance watching her try on wedding dresses,” Rockett said in a Tuesday phone interview with The Associated Press from Salt Lake City, where Poison is preparing to launch a 49-date tour. “We’ve got eyewitnesses to that.”

Police arrested Rockett, whose real name is Richard Ream, at Los Angeles International Airport upon his return from a concert in New Zealand in March. The 46-year-old said he’s never been arrested before and feared his reputation would be ruined.

“That is one word you don’t want associated with your name,” Rockett said. “Rape is right up there with murder and child molestation.”

Authorities are now looking for John Minskoff, who authorities say has a history of passing himself off as a rock musician to pick up women. Messages left with the Neshoba County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday were not immediately returned.

Rockett held an exoneration benefit party on Saturday to raise money for Centurion Ministries, which aids those who have been wrongly convicted of crimes. He’s now in Utah practicing with bandmates in preparation for the tour that starts Thursday.

The hair-metal act that scored hits in the ’80s like “Talk Dirty To Me” and “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.”

Former child star Danielle Fishel, a teen heartthrob on ABC’s “Boy Meets World,” was arrested this week on a drunken driving warrant from Los Angeles County, police said.

Fishel was arrested Thursday just before 5 a.m. after officers stopped a car she was in, said Newport Beach Sgt. James Rocker. She was released from jail shortly after her arrest.

Fishel grew up in Yorba Linda and spent more than seven years playing Topanga, the love interest of “Boy Meets World” star Ben Savage.

In 2006, Fishel became the spokeswoman for NutriSystem after she announced on The Tyra Banks show that she was so thrilled about losing 20 pounds with the diet program that she wanted to be the company’s spokeswoman.

In February, Fishel became a special correspondent for the Tyra Banks show.

The man known as “Don Vito” on MTV’s show “Viva La Bam” was convicted Wednesday of two counts of sexual assault on a child. Vincent Margera, 51, who was accused of groping three girls ages 12 to 14 during an autograph signing event last year at mall skate park in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, fell to the floor cursing and yelled, “Just kill me now.”

He was acquitted of a third count of sex assault on a child. He faces a sentence of probation to six years in prison on each conviction. If he doesn’t comply with sex offender treatment as part of the sentence, he could potentially spend life in prison, district attorney’s spokeswoman Pam Russell said.

After Margera’s courtroom outburst, deputies restrained him and took him to jail, where he was being held without bail until his sentencing hearing, set for Dec. 20.

Defense attorney Pamela Mackey had argued that when Margera appeared at the skate park, he took on the persona of the outrageous and profane Don Vito. Mackey had said that Margera, a car painter, learned that the crazier he acted, the more his fans loved it.

“Viva La Bam” starred Margera’s nephew, professional skateboarder Bam Margera.

Director John Singleton, who earned two Oscar nominations for his 1991 movie “Boyz N the Hood,” was driving a car that hit and killed a Los Angeles woman, police said on Friday.

Singleton’s car struck Constance Lee, 57, as she was crossing a Los Angeles street outside a crosswalk on Thursday night, police spokesman Officer Jason Lee said.

The woman, a resident of Los Angeles, died early on Friday, according to local news reports.

Singleton, 39, was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the police spokesman said. “He immediately stopped his car and waited for police,” he said.

Singleton earned Oscar nominations for writing and directing the 1991 film “Boyz N the Hood,” and he has gone on to direct box office hits such as “Shaft” and produce critically acclaimed films like “Hustle and Flow.”

A Canadian author is suing Universal Pictures and director Judd Apatow (who directed “40-Year-Old Virgin”), alleging that the story for the hit movie “Knocked Up” was taken directly from her book of the same name.

Rebecca Eckler claims that she shopped around her 2004 book to be made into a movie. In the middle of the process, she learned of the Apatow project. The script that was making the rounds, she alleges, had a picture of a martini glass with a pacifier around the stem — the same as on the cover of her book.

Eckler, who told her tale in this month’s Maclean’s magazine, cites other similarities — including the fact that the Katherine Heigl character is an up-and-coming television reporter, and the main character in Eckler’s book is an up-and-coming newspaper reporter. She also says that the movie and book have a secondary female character in common — the person that both main characters go to for advice — and that both of the secondary characters have screaming children.

The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in January, alleging copyright infringement and seeking unspecified damages.

Judd Apatow, through his reps, released this statement: “The book ‘Knocked Up’ is very different than the film ‘Knocked Up.’ The book is about a woman who gets pregnant by the fiance that she loves on the night of her engagement party. The film is a very different story; the film is about a one-night stand between a pot smoking slacker and an ambitious young woman that leads to a pregnancy and their attempts to get to know each other. Anyone who reads the book and sees the movie will instantly know that they are two very different stories about a common experience.”

Universal Pictures had no comment.

(Source)

 

A team foul has been called on Nick Lachey, A.J. DiScala and a handful of other big names. 

The ex-hubbies of Jessica Simpson and Jamie-Lynn Sigler have been named as defendants in a million-dollar breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by a woman who claims she was entitled to a piece of the American Basketball Association team that Lachey and a host of other celebrity investors snatched up last summer. 

According to court documents filed Mar. 22 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Laura Brau entered into a contract with DiScala last June giving her a 10 percent stake in the Hollywood Fame franchise and a $100,000-per-year salary as president of the team. 

Per the complaint, however, DiScala never had any intention of fully compensating Brau under the terms of their written arrangement and then squeezed her out of the business by selling off 100 percent of the team’s shares to other buyers, including Lachey, former baseball star Brady Anderson, NFL quarterback Kyle Boller and 7th Heaven actor Geoff Stults, all of whom were named as defendants. 

Fellow backers Stacey Keibler and Wilmer Valderrama were not mentioned by name in the suit, but Brau did sue the Hollywood Fame collectively. 

Brau calls the company that DiScala conducts business under, Brax Group LLC, “a mere shell and sham without capital, assets, stock or stockholders” and that he operated the company “to suit his personal convenience and for the purpose of evading duties and obligations, both monetary and non-monetary.” 

The disgruntled would-be Fame executive is seeking at least $1.25 million in damages, including the $250,000 that she says is the current value of 10 percent of the team. 

Lachey, who got in the game with DiScala & Co. in August, is also a co-owner of the Tacoma Rainiers, the Seattle Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate.

(via Eonline)

A “Deal or No Deal” model claims she’s been terrorized by Barbra Streisand’s goddaughter.

TMZ has obtained the restraining order filed today by Laura Mary Shields — the chick who opens case #22 — against Caleigh Peters, the daughter of Jon Peters (former boyfriend of Streisand), claiming “I have already been physically and verbally attacked in a public place and I’m scared if I see her again she will attack me.”

According to Shields’ website (and you should see this website!), she has an IQ of 158 and is a member of Mensa, even appearing on a cover of Mensa Magazine.

Shields claims Peters “approached me violently at a restaurant and threw water over me and then a glass at my head which shattered everywhere.” Shields adds, “She verbally assaulted me and physically (sic) and I’m now in emotional distress.”

Shields says “Sons of Hollywood” star Sean Stewart, Rod’s son, was among the people who witnessed the alleged attack.

Shields is asking the judge to order Peters to stay at least 500 yards away from her.

Shields also filed a police report with the Beverly Hills P.D.

A rep for Caleigh Peters could not be reached.

(via TMZ)