The pop culture of the 1990s was a fruitful world of movies, TV, and music that spawned
undeniable and enduring classics.
And while lots of breakout stars of the '90s went on to lead even bigger and more successful
lives in the spotlight, some took a different path entirely: crime.
So, which '90s celebrities are currently being held in secure facilities under lock, key,
and the watchful eyes of guards?
Just after the rise of West Coast gangsta rap and the brief and wondrous career of Notorious
B.I.G., the biggest thing in the rap game was the No Limit family of artists.
And they were literally family - the label's biggest artist was its founder, Master P,
and he signed his brothers Silkk the Shocker and C-Murder.
The latter, whose real name is Corey Miller, took his first three albums - Life or Death,
Bossalinie, and Trapped in Crime - to the top 10 of the Billboard album chart, and #1
on the R&B album chart.
C-Murder's post-2000 releases haven't sold as well, but then it's hard to record or promote
an album from inside of a prison cell.
According to MTV News, C-Murder went to a 2002 rap battle at a Harvey, Louisiana venue
called the Platinum Club.
Also present was 16-year-old No Limit acolyte Steve Thomas, who used a fake ID to get in.
A brawl broke out, during which Thomas sustained a beating, and, tragically, a fatal gunshot
wound to his chest.
A jury ruled that it was C-Murder who pulled the trigger, and that as the teenager lay
on his back, the rapper's friends delivered the beating.
C-Murder was sentenced to life in prison.
Another huge pop cultural phenomenon in the 1990s were Mike Myers' Austin Powers movies.
The spy spoofs gave the world unforgettable characters like the titular retro spy, Dr.
Evil, Mini-Me, and Random Task, a silent-but-deadly henchman of East Asian descent and an obvious
parody of the James Bond franchise character Oddjob.
Sadly and alarmingly, Joseph Hyungmin Son, the actor who portrayed Random Task, turned
out to be a real-life bad guy.
According to Time, in 2008, Son violated his probation over a vandalism charge, and then
police linked his DNA to a horrific crime from 1990 that had remained unsolved.
Along with another man, Son reportedly forced a California woman into a car at gunpoint,
and assaulted her.
According to the Daily Beast, Son was, quote, "charged with 17 felony sexual offenses and
[faced] up to 275 years to life in prison," but only one charge stuck: torture.
He still received a life sentence for his conviction on that single charge in 2011,
but after just a month behind bars, Son’s cellmate was found dead, and he was accused
of being responsible.
Per Bakersfield.com, Son was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and received an additional
27 years on his life sentence.
But Son wasn't the only character actor to find himself on thin ice.
From the age of seven, Shaun Weiss had guested on '80s sitcoms like Webster, Empty Nest,
and Charles in Charge, then landed a role in one of the most beloved kids movie franchises
of all time.
He portrayed food-loving hockey goalie Greg Goldberg in The Mighty Ducks and its two sequels,
D2: The Mighty Ducks, and D3: The Mighty Ducks.
Weiss went on to work sporadically, landing a series of small roles in movies and TV shows,
and his last on-screen credit was for a 2016 short film.
But in 2017, per TMZ, Weiss was arrested and jailed after allegedly stealing $151 worth
of merchandise from an electronics store.
Less than a week after that, police in Burbank, California, picked up a stumbling Weiss and
charged him with meth possession.
Then, according to Fox40, late one night in August 2018, police in Oroville, California,
arrested Weiss, quote, "on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs."
The same outlet reported in January 2020 that Marysville, California, police picked up the
actor after he allegedly used a hammer to break a window of a vehicle in a garage, which
he was later found inside.
He was booked into the Yuba County Jail on suspicion of residential burglary and being
under the influence of a controlled substance.
Failing to post the bail, he remained imprisoned through mid-March.
On March 13th, according to an update to a GoFundMe account set up in support of the
troubled star, Weiss was freed and transferred to a hospital for a week of detox, to be followed
by a stay at a rehab facility.
Maybe the uneven path of this '90s icon will result in a happy ending.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please call the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Administration's 24/7 National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
That's 1-800-662-4357.