Country Singer Carlene Carter Jailed

Billboard

Carlene Carter, the stepdaughter of Johnny Cash and daughter of country singers June Carter Cash and Carl Smith, has been jailed, according to authorities in Gallatin, Tenn. Sumner County jail officials would not say why the 48-year-old country singer was in custody. WTVF-TV reported her bond had been revoked because she failed a drug test.

Carter was charged in December 2002 with identity theft to obtain prescription drugs. A court hearing in the case is set for April 12. If convicted, she faces two to 12 years in prison. According to an affidavit in the case, Carter was arrested after she obtained two prescriptions for the anti-depressant Zoloft in the name of Francis Reidy III, a boyfriend who died a month earlier.

Carter was arrested in New Mexico in June 2001 on heroin possession charges. She pleaded no contest in September 2003 and was sentenced to 18 months' probation. Another former boyfriend, one-time Heartbreakers bassist Howie Epstein, died of a drug overdose in 2003 (http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60529). His estate sued Carter last month over a home the two once shared in Santa Fe, N.M.

cut the girl a break! she's gone through more in the past year (losing her mom, stepfather, one of her sisters and her boyfriend) than most people go through in a decade

Originally posted by BuffySlayer79
cut the girl a break! she's gone through more in the past year (losing her mom, stepfather, one of her sisters and her boyfriend) than most people go through in a decade

....but that's still no excuse to do drugs.

She has been involved with drugs for many years. This is nothing new! I have read that June was at her wits end with her! I think that drugs is the main reason why she hasn't been recording anymore. Too bad. I was/am a fan of hers. What a waste!:ohno:

Originally posted by *Marilyn Monroe*
....but that's still no excuse to do drugs.

true, I don't condone drug use. But I admit that if my father, a boyfriend (if I wasn't single) and one of my siblings ALSO died this year (my mom died a month ago), I think I would probably go off the deep end as well.

Carlene needs serious help, not jail. With all of the loss she suffered in 2003, I highly doubt she is in good spirits at all.

She needs prayers and help, not punishment