Warrant Out For Bobby Brown

A family court judge issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for singer Bobby Brown after he failed to appear for a child support hearing.

Brown's local attorney told the judge that the singer became ill and was taken to a hospital in Atlanta, but was unable to provide proof, said Patrick McDermott, the court's Register of Probate.

McDermott said the judge might have postponed the hearing if there had been documentation of the illness.

Brown lives in Alpharetta, Ga., with his wife, singer Whitney Houston. He has two children with Kim Ward of Stoughton.

McDermott said Brown has failed to make payments to an educational trust for those two children, had not proven his source of income, and had not made the latest monthly child support payment by the 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline.

Brown, who has a history of drug and alcohol arrests, was sentenced to 90 days in prison last June for missing three months of child support payments. That sentence was immediately suspended after Brown paid about $15,000.

If the judge finds Brown has violated the terms of the court order, she can impose her previous 90-day sentence, McDermott said. The warrant can only be executed in Massachusetts.

Brown was also jailed for a day in March 2004 after he failed to pay $63,000 he owed to Ward. He was released after he made the payment.

Brown's attorney did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.