A judge sentenced Michael Douglas' son to five years in prison yesterday for dealing methamphetamine from a Manhattan hotel.

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman announced the sentence after hearing 31-year-old Cameron Douglas ask for mercy as his mother, Diandra, and Oscar-winning father listened behind him in a packed courtroom.

"I'd like to apologize to my family and my loved ones for putting them through this nightmare of my making," the admitted heroin addict said.

He also was ordered to forfeit $300,000. A pre-sentence report listed his net worth as $500,000.

ACCUSER DROPS SUIT AGAINST COPPERFIELD

A woman who accused David Copperfield of luring her to his private island in the Bahamas and raping her — and who was later charged with fabricating sex assault claims against another man — dropped her lawsuit against the magician yesterday. Attorneys for model and waitress Lacey Carroll announced her decision in a news release, just days after a judge ruled that Copperfield's attorneys would be allowed to question her under oath this week.

AUTHOR'S AIDE SENTENCED FOR EMBEZZLING

Danielle Steel's former assistant has been sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for embezzling almost $1 million from the romance novelist.

Kristy Watts worked for 15 years and earned an annual salary of $200,000 for part-time work that included handling Steel's payroll and accounting.

The 48-year-old pleaded guilty last year to depositing numerous checks made out to "cash" in her own bank account, using the author's credit-card rewards points and paying herself more than her salary.

KAL 'KUMAR' PENN MUGGED IN D.C.

Actor Kal Penn's agent confirms that the actor who played Kumar in the movie "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" and was in the cast of the Fox show "House" was robbed at gunpoint in Washington, D.C.

The Indian-American actor whose given name is Kalpen Modi is a White House aide, connecting with the Asian-American and Pacific islander communities.

Penn's agent confirmed a TMZ.com report that Penn was walking in the city at 1:20 a.m. yesterday when a robber took his wallet and other items.

NOTORIOUS B.I.G. LAWSUIT DISMISSED

Court filings show that a long-running federal lawsuit over the death of rapper Notorious B.I.G. against the city of Los Angeles has been dismissed.

Attorneys for the rapper's estate and the city agreed to dismiss the case "without prejudice," which means that the allegations — that officials covered up police involvement in the killing — could be brought in another lawsuit. The rapper was 24 when he was gunned down in 1997 as he left a late-night party at a museum.

— Advertiser News Services