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Capt. Janks, who pranked "SportsCenter," talks sobriety, restitution

Just because Tom Cipriano spent 23 days in jail and got eight years' probation for flaking out on bar events he was pre-paid for doesn't mean his alter ego, Capt. Janks, is gonna stop making prank calls to play on Howard Stern's show on SiriusXM. On Tuesday night Janks punked ESPN's "SportsCenter" by posing as Brian Westbrook and offering to speak about being released from the Eagles. After a minute of speaking with host Scott Van Pelt and sounding nothing like Westbrook, Janks said he looked forward to "worshipping the prostate of Howard Stern," at which point he was cut off. "That's not why I'm on probation," Janks said yesterday, pledging to never give up the prank calls he's been making for 20 years.

Janks, 43, lives in Lansdale after losing his North Wales home as part of his legal dispute with 13 local clubs where he had been hired for appearances. Janks says he didn't show up for his gigs because he was in rehab for an addiction to prescription painkillers that he began taking three years ago, after hernia surgery. Janks, a former gas-station attendant, now a school crossing guard in Montgomery County, says he's been clean and sober for 54 weeks.

"I lost my house, but that's a small price to pay because I could be dead," says Janks of his drug addiction. He says he plans to work hard to pay restitution to the nightclubs and also hopes to invite club owners to sink him in a dunk tank or throw pies in his face at a benefit through which he's planning to raise funds for his court-ordered restitution. Stern sidekick Artie Lange, absent from the show for more than a month after a reported suicide attempt, previously donated $8,000 he raised at a comedy show to Janks' restitution fund.

Click here to read the rest of our column in Thursday's Daily News.