NY's "Preppy Killer" gets 19 years for drug charges

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The so-called "Preppy Killer," who served 15 years behind bars for strangling a woman in New York's Central Park in 1986, pleaded guilty on Monday to selling drugs and assault, prosecutors said.

In a plea deal with prosecutors, Robert Chambers, 41, agreed to a sentence of 19 years and four months in prison, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said.

Chambers also pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer during his arrest in October, and he will be officially sentenced on September 2, prosecutors said.

Chambers was arrested along with his girlfriend, Shawn Kovell, 39, for selling drugs out of Kovell's Manhattan apartment. In December, Kovell pleaded guilty and was ordered to participate in an 18-month drug rehabilitation program.

In 1988, Chambers was sent to prison for killing 18-year-old Jennifer Levin. Levin was found strangled in Central Park after what Chambers described as an episode of rough sex.

Chambers' good looks and preparatory school education earned him the tabloid nickname "Preppy Killer."

(Reporting by Edith Honan, editing by David Wiessler)