The comic has been living in the halfway house for the past two months, according to a New Jersey prosecutor.
Reports have surfaced that comedian Artie Lange has spent the last two months at a sober house in New Jersey while he awaits a scheduled court appearance.
Radar Online posted an item that stated the 51-year-old comedian was ordered to the facility after being sent to jail in January 2019 for testing positive for cocaine and morphine.
At the time of the arrest, Lange’s legal counsel hoped that he could be moved to an inpatient drug treatment program after his case was reevaluated on February 6. The Radar report quoted an “insider” who said that Lange “looked good” when he was spotted at the wake for a high school friend this month.
As reported by numerous media sources, Lange was booked into the Essex County Jail after testing positive for cocaine and morphine, which he was using to treat opioid dependence. Lange had previously tested positive for cocaine and other substances during a court visit for probation violation in December 2018.
According to a now-deleted post by “Team Lange” on the comedian’s Twitter feed, Lange was booked into Essex County to “sober up before transferring to a long term treatment facility.”
Lange’s lawyer, Frank Arleo, was quoted as saying that his client “knows he shouldn’t have tested dirty, but he did,” and added that the primary concern after the February 6 evaluation was “finding a bed at an inpatient facility.”
According to Radar, Lange is expected to stay at the sober house until his next court appearance, which is yet to be scheduled. But the entertainment news site quoted an unnamed “insider” who reported seeing Lange at a wake in Union City, New Jersey for a high school friend.
“Artie looked good. He looked healthy,” said the insider, who also noted that the deceased friend had also struggled with substance dependency.
Lange was in and out of court and rehab facilities for the better part of 2018, including a June hearing where he received four years’ probation for a 2017 arrest on drug charges.
He returned to court in December for violating that sentence, and tested positive for cocaine, amphetamines, benzodiazepines and Suboxone, but avoided jail time when the presiding judge recommended Lange for drug court and community service. He tested positive again in January 2019.