VILLAGE PEOPLE COP ON THE LAM!

The Village People's original cop has run afoul of the law once again.Victor Willis, the flamboyant disco band's former lead singer, was collared in San Francisco Sunday after disappearing last year while drug and gun charges were pending against him. He was due in court Tuesday.Willis was first arrested last July when police discovered a loaded .45, crack cocaine and assorted drug paraphernalia in his car during a traffic stop.The ex-Village Person agreed to a plea deal that meant he would serve no more than 16 months behind bars, but then skipped out on his sentencing hearing in October and has been missing ever since.Because he went AWOL, Willis now faces four years, four months behind bars, as well as an additional eight months on possible new narcotics charges, San Mateo County Assistant District Attorney Morley Pitt said."It's just sad that his life has spiraled down to the point where in all likelihood he's going to go to prison," Pitt told Reuters. "You never like to see anybody go to prison, let alone somebody who is 54 years old."Willis was previously convicted of possessing drugs in 1990 and was acquitted of rape in 1993.The onetime singer cofounded the Village People in 1977 and shares writing credits on many of the band's biggest hits, including "In the Navy" and "YMCA." In 1979, he left the group, shortly before shooting started on the Village People film, Can't Stop the Music.The iconic band, made up of the Cop, the Native American (Felipe Rose), the Soldier (Alex Briley), the Construction Worker (David Hodo), the Cowboy (Jeff Briley) and the Biker (Eric Anzalone), took its inspiration from icons of social groups indigenous to New York's Greenwich Village, according to the official Village People Website.After Willis left, he was replaced by Ray Simpson, who remains the group's policeman today.