'CHiPs' star to be sentenced for securities fraud

[January 28, 2011]  FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Larry Wilcox, who played a California highway officer in the 1970s TV series "CHiPs," is scheduled to be sentenced in a Florida federal court on a securities fraud conviction.

The Securities and Exchange Commission says 63-year-old Wilcox was involved in one of several kickback operations run by more than a dozen small-company stock promoters. They were caught in an FBI undercover sting operation offering to pay kickbacks to pension-fund managers or stockbrokers for using clients funds to buy penny stocks.

Wilcox pleaded guilty in November to securities fraud conspiracy. The maximum prison sentence is five years, but Wilcox will likely get less at a hearing Friday in Fort Lauderdale.

Wilcox played Officer Jonathan "Jon" Baker on the TV show.

[Associated Press]

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