Whitfield Gets Detention

Motown songwriter Norman Whitfield has been sentenced to six months of home detention and a year probation, plus a $25,000 fine, for failing to report taxes on more than $4 million in income.

Whitfield, whose catalog includes writing credit for “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” and “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” was charged with failing to report income tax between 1995 and 1999, and allegedly owed the U.S. government $956,000.

U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson opted not to send Whitfield to jail after considering the producer’s health problems.

The 65-year-old Grammy winner pleaded guilty in January to one count of tax evasion; he was initially charged with five misdemeanor counts of willful failure to report the taxes.