Liberace ex-lover, who was portrayed by Matt Damon in the HBO film ‘Behind the Candelabra,’ has been sentenced to a staggering eight to 20 years in a Nevada prison for failing another court-ordered drug test while on probation for burglary and identity theft convictions. OUCH!
Washoe District Judge Patrick Flanagan sentenced Scott Thorson on Wednesday after a string of bad drug tests capped his failure to show up at a court-ordered treatment facility.
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Thorson, 54, whose real name is Jess Marlow, had admitted he was an addict but insisted he was determined to get sober when he tearfully appealed to the judge in September to spare him from prison.
Thorson had his chances. Flanagan originally suspended the prison sentence in July and gave Thorson a second chance in September after testing positive for methamphetamine, but he failed tests twice in October and again on Nov. 1. He was arrested Nov. 19 after violating an order to enter an inpatient treatment facility in Reno two weeks earlier, court records show.
Deputy District Attorney John Helzer said in urging prison time in September that Thorson had been trying to capitalize on his fame since he told arresting officers last year he couldn’t afford the bad publicity of going to jail.
“I’m not impressed – I don’t think anybody is – with this so-called celebrity status,” he said. “You’re just like any other addict who has committed a crime against a victim.” “He’s not a celebrity. He’s a story,” Helzer said. “It’s one of accusation and manipulation and failure.”
Michael Douglas, who donned the flamboyant costumes to play Liberace, claimed his fourth Golden Globe for his work in the film. Damon was also nominated. Tons of money has been raked in. Thorsen will likely die of old age rotting in prison.