Comedian Katt Williams pleads no contest to taking camera
Comedian Katt Williams was sentenced to three years of probation after pleading no contest to stealing a celebrity photographer's camera.
Los Angeles prosecutors said Monday that Williams will also need to attend anger management classes.
In September 2014, a celebrity photographer accused Williams and his good friend, former rap music mogul Marion 'Suge' Knight, of stealing her camera after she allegedly took a photo of Knight's son.
The photographer said she suffered a concussion after an associate of the men attacked her.
FILE - In this, Oct. 27, 2015 file pool photo, comedian Katt Williams appears in court for arraignment on robbery charges in Los Angeles. On Monday, April 17, 2017, Williams was sentenced to three years of probation after pleading no contest and will have to attend anger management classes for stealing a celebrity photographer's camera. In September 2014, a celebrity photographer accused Williams and former rap music mogul Marion 'Suge' Knight of stealing her camera. The photographer said she suffered a concussion after an associate of the men attacked her. (Frederick M. Brown via AP, Pool, File)
Williams' attorney has said in court the comedian briefly took the camera from an associate only to erase the images of the Knight's kid, who was with his father visiting a Beverly Hills studio.
His attorney didn't immediately comment Monday.
Charges against Knight are still pending.
The rapper, who is already behind bars on a murder charge for his alleged role in a hit-and-run incident in Compton last January, is also charged with making threats to the photographer.
Katt Williams found himself in police custody yet again on Thursday, marking the eighth time this year that the popular comedian has been picked up by authorities.
Jail records in Fulton County show that Williams, 45, was picked up in Georgia on a criminal damage to property in the second degree charge, and that he was released shortly after his arrest when he posted a $10,000 signature bond.
The alleged crime actually occurred back on February 28, and this is now the third time that police have arrested Williams on a charge related to that date.
There are no specific details about the comedian's latest crime at this time, but five women did come forward earlier this year claiming that on this same date Williams punched one of them and then pulled out a gun on the group before running off with all their phones.
The alleged altercation between Williams and the five women took place at 2:30am outside an Atlanta club when Williams grew angry with the women because they asked for a picture with him and began filming on their phones.
Williams later admitted to pulling out a gun and said he did indeed punch one woman, but claimed it was in self defense after she tried to steal a chain from his neck.
He was reportedly with a 15-person entourage at the time.
Williams was previously booked in early March on charges of simple battery and theft for an incident that occurred on February 28, and five days after that arrest was again taken into custody for an additional simple battery charge on that date.
The first arrest of the year for Williams came on February 29, when he was charged with battery after he punched a clerk at a pool store in Gainesville.
Williams did not deny that he punched the man, and spoke to TMZ on March 1 about what caused the incident as he left a courthouse in Los Angeles, where he had been attending a hearing involving an assault with a deadly weapon charge he picked up in Inglewood the previous year.
'He used the n-word on the last day of Black History Month,' claimed Williams.
Arrest number two came on March 8, when he was taken into custody on charges of aggravated assault, terrorist threats, and false imprisonment.
Those charges were brought against the comedian after police in Hall County found evidence suggesting he had ordered a woman to beat his bodyguard with a baseball bat while he threatened the man's life the previous month.
Police also found a large amount of marijuana and multiple firearms inside Williams' home while conducting a search in that investigation.
The next two arrests happened on March 11 and March 16, and were both regarding the incident that happened on February 28 in Atlanta.
His fifth arrest was on March 30 on charges of disorderly conduct after he fought seventh grade student Luke Wash, 17, following a pick-up soccer game at an apartment complex in Gainesville.
Video of that incident, which had occurred earlier that same month, showed Williams sucker-punching Wash, who responded by getting the comedian into a headlock before bystanders broke up the brawl.
Vibe reported that Williams later said during a stand-up appearance at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn that he did not realize that Wash was a minor, claiming that due to the fact that he was smoking a cigarette and around the same height as him the comedian assumed the teenager was at least 19 years old.
As for why he was even at the field, Williams is claiming it is all because he was trying to avoid getting into trouble with the police.
Williams said he was driving around town on his motorcycle when an officer began to follow him, so he decided to park his bike and begin to walk.
He claims that the police officer continued to follow him however, so when he saw the teenagers it created the perfect opportunity for him to lose the cop.
Williams said that after joining the game he was able to lose the cop and was initially happy thinking that the teenagers had saved him from 'the motherf****** next day in jail.'
The comedian also made a point of telling the audience that he joined the losing soccer team and helped them rally to victory.
Williams and the police came together for the sixth time on April 27 after he was accused of splitting open the lip of a manager at an East Point restaurant when he threw a salt shaker.
The manager of Spondivits and other witnesses said that Williams and members of his family had argued with staff when told the table they were at was for another party, and Williams then became so enraged he threw the shaker.
Williams fled the scene before police arrived but was eventually picked up a short time later and charged with battery.
His seventh arrest of the year was unique in that it did not occur in Georgia, but rather Los Angeles.
Prosecutors there have charged him with misdemeanor battery after a woman was left with minor injuries following a confrontation between the two in the parking lot of the Sportsmen’s Lodge, a Studio City Hotel.
The woman called police on July 24 at around 11am to report the incident, and Williams was picked up later that day.
And his criminal damage arrest on Thursday makes eight.
A rep for Williams said more details bout this latest arrest will be revealed later on Friday.
Other charges since 2006 include carrying a concealed firearm, burglary and criminal trespass, felony intimidation of a witness, assault with a deadly weapon, child endangerment, and multiple other assaults in addition to those mentioned above.
Despite this lengthy list of arrests and serious charges, Williams has managed to avoid serving any significant amount of time behind bars.