Emmy Award-winning actor Rip Torn may be heading to the big house. His request for a special probation program was rejected Wednesday by a judge who ruled the charges are too significant to qualify the . Rip torn was arrested in January for breaking into a bank in Connecticut, intoxicated and armed.
Rip Torn faces several criminal charges
Rip Torn, whose real name is Elmore Rual Torn, has had troubles in the past with alcohol-related incidents. The latest event took place in Salisbury, Conn., where he was arrested for allegedly breaking into a Litchfield Bancorp branch office during closing hours when carrying a firearm without a permit. Police easily responded to the alarm that went off in the bank. The Men in Black actor was found wandering inside the facility holding a loaded .22-caliber pistol. According to court records, Torn had a blood-alcohol level of 0.203, almost three times the lawful limit for Connecticut drivers.
According to the Associated Press, Torn has pleaded not guilty to second-degree criminal trespassing, carrying a firearm while intoxicated, carrying a weapon without a permit and third-degree criminal mischief.
Other drunken incidents of Rip Torn
In January of 2004, Torn was arrested within the Big Apple after his car crashed into a taxi. Aired on television news was an angry Rip Torn cursing at police officers and refusing to take a breathalyzer test. He was acquitted from all charges in October of that year. Just two years later, in December of 2006, the actor crashed into a tractor trailer in North Salem, New York, and he was again arrested for drunk driving. He pleaded guilty, had his driver’s license revoked for 90 days and was ordered to pay a $ 380 fine.
No special treatment for Rip Torn
Unfortunately for Rip Torn, Litchfield Superior Court Judge James Ginocchio has ruled that the charges placed on the 79-year-old acting professional for breaking into a Connecticut bank in January are too severe to qualify him for the accelerated rehabilitation program. It doesn’t help that, at the time of the bank break-in, Torn was nevertheless in a court-ordered alcohol education program from an earlier DUI charge. His lawyer, Thomas Waterfall, has requested a court-ordered evaluation of Torn’s alcohol dependency problems. Depending on the results, Torn could be ordered to undergo a state-monitored treatment for up to two years before any of the charges could be dropped.
Additional reading
Yahoo News
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100811/ap_on_en_tv/us_people_rip_torn_12
