Cop: Britney, Justin Tape 'Boring'

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/04/2001 at 01:00 PM EDT

A sure sign that life has returned to relative normal: Britney Spears, 19, and her boyfriend, 'N Sync's Justin Timberlake, 20, are back in the news. This time, it has to do with a videotape that was swiped from the home that the couple and their families rented in Destin, Fla., last month. Police have now told the Associated Press that the tape, whose content had been rumored to be hot and heavy, contains nothing scandalous. In fact, it was "very boring," said Okaloosa County sheriff's spokesman Rick Hord. Deputies who viewed the video said it contained ordinary vacation scenes and that Spears is not on camera for very long, according to Hord. It reportedly includes footage taped inside a car while driving through Alabama, some shots of the house itself and scenes of people playing on the beach, he said. Four teen-agers who broke into the house on Sept. 22 took the tape (along with more than $5,000 worth of video camera equipment, liquor bottles and clothes before neighbors tipped off police, AP reported), and an unnamed, underage suspect reportedly was copying it when sheriff's deputies arrested him. "The copy was destroyed, and the original was returned," Hord said. The tape is not in evidence, so it is not public record. Destin Mayor Ken Beaird sent Spears flowers and a letter of apology, asking the pop singer to consider vacationing in the Gulf city again. He hasn't gotten a response but said he doesn't expect one. "I just wanted them to know that that's not Destin, the way they were treated," Beaird said.