Vanilla Ice Dodges Felony with Hardcore Housework

Vanilla Ice won't face any jail time for stealing from an abandoned house because he put in a ton of time building new houses, and more importantly ... he listened to the judge.

Ice's top-notch attorney, Bradford Cohen, struck a deal with the State of Florida back in April -- if Ice completed 100 hours of community service and kept his nose clean for 9 months -- the whole case would be wiped from his record.

Ice stuck to the plan and put in all his required hours while working with Habitat for Humanity.

TMZ broke the story ... Ice was arrested for stealing a bike, pool heater, furniture and other stuff from inside a house last February near another property he was renovating.

To sum up -- there WAS a problem but, yo ... he solved it.