Deion Sanders to host Miss USA pageant

GARY, Ind. -- Deion Sanders has made the transition from football to baseball to CBS sports analyst. Now, "Prime Time" moves into prime time as host of the Miss USA pageant.

Pageants officials said Thursday that the flamboyant and outspoken Sanders will be the host of the March 1 show. CBS will broadcast the event from Gary's Genesis Convention Center.

Donald Thompson, pageant coordinator for Gary, said he hopes Sanders will help boost ticket sales. Already, sales for pageant events, including the presentation show, coronation ball and the pageant finals, have equaled last year's total, when William Shatner was the host.

Sanders, whose nickname is "Prime Time," spent 13 seasons in the NFL and played briefly for the Cincinnati Reds. He won Super Bowl titles with the San Francisco 49ers in 1994 and the Dallas Cowboys a year later.

Cub's Sosa loses money in hotel theft

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa was robbed of $20,000 that he and his brother left on a desk in a Caracas hotel lobby, a newspaper reported Friday.

Sosa and his brother, Jose Antonio, had the cash in a plastic bag wrapped inside a towel as they sat talking in the lobby of the Caracas Hilton last Saturday, El Universal said, citing unidentified police sources.

The brothers forgot the bag when they left to eat at a hotel restaurant. Remembering it, they rushed back to the lobby but the cash was gone, the newspaper said.

Hotel management refused to comment on the report Friday. Caracas city police in charge of the district where the hotel is situated said they had no information and could not comment.

El Universal said Sosa reported the robbery to police and asked hotel management to review hotel security camera videotapes. Management told him the cameras weren't working, the paper said.

The robbery occurred after Sosa attended a Dominican Republic-Puerto Rico Caribbean Series game, El Universal said.

Janet Jackson's room becomes crime scene

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Someone got past Janet Jackson's velvet rope.

While the singer was entertaining fans Wednesday night at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, a 19-year-old man allegedly was breaking into her dressing room, police said.

Mario Backman of Manhattan was charged with third-degree burglary after the singer's managers found him inside Jackson's dressing room, said Detective Sgt. John Giambrone, a Nassau County police spokesman.

Backman had allegedly taken some stuffed animals, an FDNY cap and correspondence, police said Thursday.

The 35-year-old singer, who released the hit album "The Velvet Rope" in 1997, is nearing the end of a long tour in support of her latest album, "All for You."

Backman was released without bail and ordered to return to court on Monday.

Judge sends Brad Renfro to drug abuse program

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A judge put jailed actor Brad Renfro into a three-month substance abuse treatment program and told him he faces a nine-month sentence.

The 19-year-old, who starred in the 1994 film "The Client," was jailed Jan. 31 for violating his probation for trying to steal a yacht. He violated probation when he was arrested Jan. 14 and charged with driving without a license and public intoxication near his hometown of Knoxville, Tenn.

-- From wire reports