Hollywood actor Robert Downey Jr., who was paroled from prison for "good behavior" just last August, has been arrested again for alleged drug possession, police announced Sunday, according to Agence France Presse.
Downey, 35, was detained at a hotel in Palm Springs late Saturday after police received a anonymous telephone tip "indicating there were drugs and guns in a hotel room," police said in a statement.
According to AP, after arriving to the room, police officers found Downey there alone, with "suspected methamphetamine and cocaine" in his possession.
Downey posted $15,000 bail and was released early Sunday. He is expected to be arraigned before a judge within the next 30 days, police officials said.
According to ABC online, Palm Springs police officer Ralph Landry said that Downey “was conscious and conversed with the officers.”
However, a mug shot released Sunday shows Downey looking unkempt, with bloodshot eyes and a wild tangle of hair.
Downey’s legal troubles date to June 1996, when he was stopped for speeding on the Pacific Coast Highway and authorities found cocaine, heroin and a pistol in his vehicle.
A month later, he was found passed out on a child’s bed in a neighbor’s home. Three days later, he was arrested for leaving a recovery center.
He was jailed in August 1999 after he admitted during a probation hearing that he was missing scheduled drug tests. Superior Court Judge Lawrence Mira sentenced him to three years in prison for violating his probation.
Actor Dennis Hopper, who has sought treatment for admitted narcotics abuse, rallied to Downey’s side on Sunday.
“I hope that this time he’ll find a higher power greater than himself and he’ll be humble to the point that he can turn his life over to that higher power and he can clean up this time,” Hopper told KCAL-TV in Los Angeles.
“It’s really, really important because the industry needs him, the world needs him, he’s a great, great talent and a very sensitive man and I’m sorry for this terrible addiction,” Hopper said.
Downey was released from prison early last August on $5,000 bail after the California Second District Court of Appeal ruled he had served enough time to fulfill his three-year sentence. The panel determined he was entitled to receive credit for time served in drug-rehabilitation facilities.
The son of film director Robert Downey earned an Oscar nomination for his work in the title role in Chaplin, the 1992 screen biography of the famed comedian. Other film credits include Less Than Zero, Natural Born Killers, One Night Stand, Two Girls and a Guy and US Marshals.
He jumped-started his career after his August prison release with his appearances on Ally McBeal. He also planned in January to star in a Los Angeles stage run of Shakespeare’s Hamlet to be directed by fellow actor Mel Gibson. – Albawaba.com.
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