"Road Rules" Star Pleads To Battering

OCTOBER 27--Donell Langham, the roly-poly star of MTV's latest "Road Rules" installment, pleaded guilty today to assaulting his ex-girlfriend and was sentenced to a year's probation, directed to enter a batterer's program, and ordered to stay away from his former teenage paramour. Langham entered his plea in Lynn District Court in Massachusetts, two days after he was arrested for outstanding warrants stemming, in part, from his failure to show up for a court hearing last month (the mug shot at right was snapped Saturday morning by Newton cops). As TSG previously reported, the 21-year-old Langham was popped last July for striking his girlfriend, Erin Soper, then 17, and throwing her to the ground and dragging her several feet. Months after that bust (the arrest report for which you'll find below), he was cast for the MTV series by "Road Rules" producers whom Langham told about the pending criminal charge. Upon returning this spring from the South Pacific, where the reality show was filmed, Langham was again arrested for assaulting Soper as well as violating an order of protection issued following the July 2002 incident. His troubles, however, did not end there. Earlier this month, Soper told police that Langham threatened her and tried to intimidate her into not testifying against him. In a June 2003 TSG interview, Langham described his relationship with Soper as "dysfunctional." He added, "I won't do jail time on these. Community service and counseling is offered, but I'm not guilty so I won't take a deal." (2 pages)