Vanilla Ice Accepts Plea Deal For Burglary Charges, Says He Is Moving Forward

Vanilla Ice, whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, has accepted a plea deal for the burglary charges filed against him in February.

“During the investigation, it was determined Robert Matthew Van Winkle played a role in the burglary and theft,” police said at the time. “A search warrant was obtained and executed in unincorporated Palm Beach County in which several of the stolen items were recovered at a residence under the care and control of Robert Van Winkle.”

Vanilla Ice reportedly took several items from a million dollar home that was in the process of foreclosure. He claimed that he was planning to purchase the home for his new reality show The Vanilla Ice Project, where he buys and flips houses. However, Ice did not have a contract stating he was buying the property, which led to his arrest.

On Thursday, April 2, Vanilla Ice reached a plea agreement which states that he must complete 100 hours of community service for Habitat for Humanity. He will also be responsible for paying the late homeowner’s estate between $1,100 and $1,300, according to People Magazine. If the terms of the agreement are met, the charges against Ice will be dismissed.

“This was a house owned by an estate. There’s a dispute where the furniture was,” Van Winkle’s lawyer, Bradford Cohen, said. “Police say it was in the property – the garage, the backyard, that type of thing. We would have disputed that if we went to trial, because it was on the curb. Rob didn’t have any criminal intent at all; this was a misunderstanding and the prosecutor knew that.”

“We came up with a happy medium. We avoided the necessity of going to trial and letting a jury decide. It saved the state from having to put together a case that they might lose, and saved us from having to put together a defense.”

“I was really impressed with the prosecutors in this case,” Cohen added. “A lot of times, they take the opportunity for a high-profile case to get on TV. It was refreshing to see them handle this one professionally.”

Vanilla Ice explained that he never had any criminal intent when he took the items in question, and he hopes to move forward and put this whole situation behind him.

“I never had any criminal intent,” the “Ice Ice Baby” singer said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “It’s just unfortunate, but here we are. I’m moving forward”

[Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]