LOS ANGELES – Norman Whitfield (search), who co-wrote a slew of R&B hits such as "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" and "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" (search), has been sentenced to six months of home detention and fined $25,000 for failing to report more than $4 million in income to the U.S. government.
The Grammy-winning songwriter and producer, credited with helping shape the Motown Records' sound of acts such as the Temptations, was also sentenced to one year probation, said Robert Kwan, an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles.
Whitfield, 65, pleaded guilty in January to one count of tax evasion.
A call to Whitfield's lawyer, Chad Hummel, wasn't immediately returned Thursday.
The Internal Revenue Service initially charged Whitfield with five misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file income tax returns between 1995 and 1999.
The unreported income exceeded $4 million, of which Whitfield owed the government $956,000 in taxes, Kwan said.
U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson, who handed down the sentence Monday, opted not to order prison time for Whitfield after considering the producer's health problems, Kwan said.
"He has numerous conditions — diabetes, heart disease and kidney insufficiency," Kwan said.
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