Busta Rhymes [ tickets ]--a.k.a. Trevor Smith--was sentenced to five years probation on Friday (10/6) for a gun possession charge he pled guilty to last year, according to a Reuters report. Smith could have been sentenced to seven years in prison if he had been convicted in a trial, the report said.

In May 1999, Smith pled guilty to the gun possession charge after police stopped him and found a loaded, unregistered .45-caliber pistol in his Mercedes, according to Reuters. The plea was made before a Manhattan Supreme Court judge.

Sentencing was originally scheduled to take place in September 1999, but was delayed while Smith was being investigated for allegedly violating a restraining order granted to a former girlfriend, Joanne Wood, who is the mother of his 7-year-old son, the report said. Wood had Smith arrested and accused him of not paying child support for their son.

Because of that investigation, the judge delayed sentencing and required Smith to report to his courtroom every two months until the family situation was resolved, Reuters said. The outcome of the domestic dispute was not available at press time.

Rhymes is currently on tour in support of his latest album “Anarchy.”