Rip Torn To Enter NY Rehab Facility Tuesday
Feb. 2 2010, Published 7:45 a.m. ET
Actor Elmore "Rip" Torn is expected to enter a New York alcohol rehabilitation center as soon as Tuesday, his attorney A. Thomas Waterfall said following the Men in Black star's initial court appearance in Connecticut's Bantam Superior Court Monday, where he had to answer to burglary and firearms charges following a bizarre bank break-in incident last week.
"This was a condition of release by the judge," Waterfall said of the rehab assignment.
The actor, according to police, allegedly forced entry into the Litchfield Bancorp building in Salisbury on Friday, setting off the building's alarm. Police said that when they responded to the alarm around 9:40 p.m., Torn was carrying a loaded revolver and was highly intoxicated. He was charged with carrying a pistol without a permit, carrying a firearm while intoxicated, first-degree burglary, first-degree criminal trespass and third-degree criminal mischief.
The 78-year-old actor, according to court records, said on Monday that he believed he was at his Salisbury, Connecticut home to the extent that he took off his hat and boots, and left them by the door during the incident. After spending the weekend behind bars, Torn was released from custody Monday on $100,000 bond after the court session, and hopped off into a friend’s waiting car.
It’s the latest in a sad series of alcohol-related incidents for The Larry Sanders Show star: Torn escaped jail for a December 2008 drunken driving incident, as he was granted permission to enter an alcohol education program instead. Prior to that, he had two drunken driven charges against him in New York. He was acquitted by a jury in a 2004 drunken driving case and, in a second case, pleaded guilty in 2007 to a lesser charge of being ability impaired.