Celebrity Mound

Comedian Dane Cook’s sister-in-law, ordered to pay millions in restitution after pleading guilty to stealing from the entertainer, asked a judge on Friday to allow her to keep two gold wedding bands she says are family heirlooms.

The rings are not worth much money but have sentimental value to Erika McCauley, lawyer Scott Matson said. Judge Mary-Lou Rup did not immediately rule.

McCauley and her husband, Darryl McCauley – Cook’s half brother – have been ordered to pay Cook $12 million in restitution.

The Wilmington couple, who also had a home in York, Maine, were accused of embezzling millions from Cook while Darryl McCauley was the entertainer’s business manager.

Darryl McCauley is serving a 5- to 6-year prison term. His wife is serving 2 1/4 to 3 years.

Rup on Friday set Erika McCauley’s restitution amount at $10.9 million. She and her husband are jointly responsible for paying that amount. Her husband is also responsible for paying the remaining $1.1 million in the total $12 million restitution order.

Assistant Attorney General Eileen O’Brien said prosecutors had agreed during plea negotiations to return one ring to Erika McCauley, not two. Prosecutors are not willing to accept McCauley’s claim that the rings are of minimal financial value without getting the items appraised, she said.

Matson agreed to file an affidavit describing the rings McCauley wants returned and their value.

The court is in the process of tallying the couple’s assets, including cash that was seized from their homes during searches, as well as furniture, jewelry, art and two cars.

Cook’s lawyer, Peter Krupp, declined to comment.

The half-brother of comedian Dane Cook has been sentenced to five to six years in prison by a Massachusetts judge after pleading guilty to stealing millions from the entertainer.

The Middlesex District Attorney’s office says 45-year-old Darryl McCauley of Wilmington pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of larceny, forgery and embezzlement. A judge also ordered him to make restitution.

McCauley, who worked as Cook’s business manager, was arrested in December 2008. He was accused of writing checks to himself from Cooks’s company, Great Dane Enterprises, and transferring the funds to personal bank accounts.

An after-hours message left with McCauley’s attorney was not immediately returned.

When asked about complaints last year at his West Hollywood apartment complex that he never picked up after his dog, Beast, the comic told The Post’s Mandy Stadtmiller: “Sometimes I like letting people think these things. We settled that out of court . . . I was not evicted . . . I went out willingly.”

Cook, who’s playing this year’s New York Comedy Festival, compared him self to other targets on the Internet: “You look at like a Kanye or an Eminem, when people are discussing you . . . even when it’s a slam or some thing . . . I think it keeps you from being vanilla. You’re doing something right.”

(source)