Kevin J. Love, a former lawyer with longstanding drinking and cocaine problems, was told

today he faces a prison term of up to four years after admitting that he violated terms of

probation he received months ago.

Love, 45, of Hamburg, pleaded guilty to violating orders from State Supreme Court Justice

Russell P. Buscaglia concerning participation in the Buffalo City Court's DWI Court program

and the financing of court-ordered in-patient treatment.

Love told the judge he had violated those probationary terms imposed along with a six-month

local jail term but he insisted he didn't do so intentionally.

After the judge conferred at the bench with Prosecutor Bethany A. Solek and defense

attorney Kenneth F. Case, Love conceded he had "knowingly" violated those terms.

Love has been in custody since last September following his two most recent DWI arrests.

After Love last fall completed a month of court-ordered in-patient alcoholism treatment at

the Tully Hill facility near Syracuse, the judge imposed a six-month local jail term followed

by five years on court-supervised probation.

The judge today stressed that "financing" issues with the court-ordered in-patient

treatment, including future treatment, played a major role in Love's latest legal problems.

His "admission" to the probation violations were the legal equivalent of a guilty plea.

Love, who resigned from the legal profession last year to avoid automatic disbarment, was

remanded without bail pending his April 19 sentencing. Casedeclined comment on the particulars

of the financing dispute involved in the former attorney's impending prison term.