SAN DIEGO (CNS/ CBS 8) - The voice of Charlie Brown in several "Peanuts" animated television specials and movies was ordered Wednesday to enter a live-in drug treatment program and was put on five years probation for threatening his girlfriend and stalking a doctor who performed breast-enhancement surgery on her.
During an exclusive jailhouse interview with News8, Peter Robbins said he was ready for rehab. He said that during his four month stay in the county jail system, he was beaten up several times.
At his sentencing hearing, Robbins offered apologies to his victims and showed remorse for what he called a period of extremely abhorrent behavior.
Superior Court Judge Dwayne Moring ordered that Robbins immediately begin an inpatient program, where he will remain for at least eight months, to address mental health and substance abuse issues.
Robbins, 56, pleaded guilty last month to making criminal threats and stalking.
According to a psychological evaluation, his conduct over a several-week period was "troubling" but unlikely to re-occur, the judge said in suspending a one-year jail term.
Moring said Robbins was remorseful and reminded the defendant that he would stay out of prison as long as he complied with the terms of probation.
"Don't be a blockhead," the judge told Robbins, borrowing a line from the Peanuts cartoon strip.
The judge granted a 10-year restraining order prohibiting Robbins to have any contact with Dr. Lori Saltz, who performed a cosmetic operation on his girlfriend, Shawna Kern.
Kern did not request a stay-away order from the defendant.
Robbins was arrested in January while re-entering the United States from Mexico. The previous month, he had threatened Saltz, who told authorities that Robbins had paid for the surgery and follow-up appointments.
Kern, a Los Angeles resident, told investigators she was staying at a hotel in Carlsbad when she and Robbins got into a fight during which he grabbed her by the neck and demanded that she go with him to get back the money he paid for the breast enhancement.
Kern said her relationship with Robbins ended after that confrontation and that he then began calling Saltz's office demanding his money back, according to the court document.
In a letter read in court Wednesday, Saltz said Robbins hung a note on the door of her office threatening to "break me in half." At one point, Saltz said she stayed at a hotel because she was fearful of Robbins and hired an armed guard for her business.
The defendant's harassing actions shattered the sense of peace at her clinic, Saltz wrote.
The doctor said the incidents left her very badly shaken, saying she and her husband worried that Robbins would continue his threatening behavior if released from custody.
McClutchey said at an earlier hearing that Robbins left several threatening phone messages for Kern, saying in one, "You better hide, Shawna. I'm coming for you. I'm going to find you in Sun Valley or wherever the (expletive) you live and I'm going to kill you."
Robbins had purchased a gun -- though he had yet to receive it -- and practiced shooting at a firing range, according to McClutchey.
Deputy Public Defender Kristin Scogin said Robbins was remorseful for "tormenting" the victims and was willing to enter treatment to get help for his alcohol and prescription medication addictions.
Robbins said he holds no ill will toward the victims, saying he realizes that drug treatment is the first step toward becoming the "fun-loving and respectful" person he used to be.
Robbins was 9 years old when he began doing vocal performances for such films and television specials as "A Boy Named Charlie Brown," "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."