Bobby Brown jailed for child support debt

A judge has sentenced entertainer Bobby Brown to jail for failing to pay child support.

Brown, the husband of singer Whitney Houston, was sentenced on Wednesday, a police spokesman said. "According to the order of the judge, he has to be held until he pays the child support he owes," he said.

Local media reported that Brown wept at his hearing before Judge Paula Carey, who ordered the singer jailed for 90 days or until he can come up with more than $US60,000 ($A80,000) in child support owed to the mother of two children he fathered.

Brown has a history of run-ins with the law dating back to his youth in Boston. Last month he was sentenced to jail in Georgia for violating probation in a drunk-driving case. In December, he was charged with battery after a domestic dispute with Houston, report theage.com.au

Brown's former girlfriend says the R and B singer owes more than $60,000 dollars in child support for their 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son.

Brown claimed he's been unemployed and has no income.

The singer was released from a Georgia jail so he could attend yesterday's hearing. That apparently didn't help because he showed up nearly 4 hours late, according to abclocal.go.com