Liberace Lover Gets Up to 20 Years in Prison

A former lover of Liberace who was the subject HBO film Behind the Candelabra (and wrote a book of the same name on the pianist's life) has been sentenced to eight to 20 years in a Nevada prison for failing another court-ordered drug test while on probation for burglary and identity theft convictions. Washoe District Judge Patrick Flanagan sentenced Scott Thorson on Wednesday after a string of bad drug tests capped by his failure to show up at a court-ordered treatment facility. 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. 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. "I'm just asking for another chance," Thorson said, explaining he was dealing with his newfound celebrity stature. I can't help who I am. I'm in show business. I attract these cameras." (More Scott Thorson stories.)