News: Man Claiming Babyface Kinship Pleads Guilty
A 24-year-old Indiana man claiming to be the illegitimate son of Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds will spend six months in a halfway house after pleading guilty to misdemeanor intimidation.
John Travis Clark was also sentenced to six months probation as part of the plea agreement filed Thursday in Marion Superior Court. He was accused of trying to extort $9 million from the Grammy-winning musician after contacting an attorney for the artist and threatening to go public with his bogus story.
According to court documents, he told Face's lawyer, William Briggs, that he would keep quiet in exchange for $20 million, but later lowered his demand to $9 million.
On May 19, Clark met with Briggs at an Indianapolis restaurant, read and signed a fake but detailed eight-page nondisclosure statement the attorney had drawn up and was handed a fake check for $9 million. Authorities then arrested Clark as he was leaving the restaurant.
Clark will get credit toward his sentence for the three months he's spent in jail awaiting a trial.
Babyface, who was not at the trial, said in a statement: "I want to make it emphatically clear that John Clark is not my son. John Travis Clark sought to ruin my reputation by broadcasting his lies to the entire country, which would not only destroy my family but would resonate loudly in the music industry."
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