Foxy Brown pleads guilty in BlackBerry case

Rap artist Inga Marchand, also known as Foxy Brown, departs from a superior court after being sentenced to three years probation on assault charges, in New York October 24, 2006.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Less than a month after being released from prison, U.S. rapper Foxy Brown pleaded guilty on Thursday to menacing a woman with her BlackBerry phone and avoided another possible prison sentence.

Brown, 29, whose real name is Inga Marchand, pleaded guilty to menacing a Brooklyn woman, a misdemeanor, in July 2007 while on probation for assaulting two nail salon stylists over a $20 manicure, a court spokesman said.

By pleading guilty, Brown avoided going on trial for assault, a felony charge that carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

Brown was accused of bruising the eye and chipping the tooth of her longtime neighbor Arlene Raymond when she struck the woman with the handheld communications device.

On Thursday, Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge John Walsh sentenced Brown to time already served, issued an order of protection and ordered Brown to submit a letter of apology, the spokesman said.

"I apologize for the incident that occurred on July 31, 2007, in that I attempted to scare Arlene Raymond and place her in harm's way," Brown said in a hand-written note.

Last month, Brown was released after serving eight months of a one-year sentence for violating her parole stemming from the nail salon incident.

With her 1999 album "Chyna Doll," Brown became the first female rap artist to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the U.S. pop chart encompassing all styles of music.

(Reporting by Edith Honan, editing by Michelle Nichols and John O'Callaghan)