Former KISS Manager Offered Plea Deal

Ex-KISS manager Jesse Hilsen, a former Upper East Side shrink who has been described as New York City's "worst deadbeat dad," has been offered a plea deal by the feds that could allow him to walk free and keep his psychiatry license, The New York Post reports.

Hilsen could get time served after spending the past 15 months behind bars while awaiting trial on charges he stiffed his ex-wife and three kids.

The plea deal, set to be finalized as soon as Monday, would require Hilsen to return to work and fork over half of his post-tax income each week to his former wife, Rita Hilsen, until he has paid her nearly $162,000 in restitution.

"I'm hopeful that this will be resolved soon," lawyer Eric Sears said.

A key provision in the plea is that Hilsen, 65, would cop to a misdemeanor instead of a felony, thereby allowing him to keep his license to practice child psychiatry and work off his debt, sources said.

Misdemeanor and felony charges relate to failure to pay child support both carry the same maximum sentence of two years behind bars.

Hilsen, who used 10 aliases while hiding out in three countries, was busted in the Catskills in June 2004 after 10 years on the run.

Hilsen raked in $300,000 to $500,000 annually in the four years he managed KISS, but had filed for bankruptcy and refused to pay alimony to his ex-wife.

Rita lost her East Side apartment in the bankruptcy proceeding and has lived in an 8-by-12-foot room in a shelter for the last ten years.

KISS leaders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were served subpoenas by a private investigator in September 2003 before their performance at Chicago's Tweeter Center in connection with the case.

The purpose of the subpoenas was to determine what, if any, financial ties exist between Hilsen and the band, as well as whether any band members have been in touch with him since he became a fugitive. Hilsen had been Stanley's psychiatrist for several years before becoming the band's business manager. He and the band split in 1992.