Robert Downey Jr. arrested on new drug charge 

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Robert Downey Jr., the Oscar-nominated actor whose career has been repeatedly derailed by drugs, was arrested early Tuesday for allegedly taking an unknown ``stimulant,'' police said, an offense that could send him back to prison.

Downey, 36 -- who spent a year in a California prison for cocaine possession and faces trial stemming from a Palm Springs drug arrest -- was taken into custody just after midnight local time (3 a.m. EDT) in the Los Angeles suburb of Culver City, Lt. Dave Tankenson said.

Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Tammy Capone, who is prosecuting the Palm Springs case, told Reuters that Downey's latest arrest could get him sent back to prison on a parole violation.

Capone said that parole officials would review Downey's Culver City arrest and would make a recommendation that could include sending him back to prison or into mandatory drug rehabilitation. She said she would take no action until parole officials make their recommendation.

Downey, who stars in the Fox-TV hit ``Ally McBeal,'' was jailed for several hours before he was released into the custody of his parole officer and told to appear in court on May 4, Culver city police spokesman Tankenson said.

Tankenson said an officer on routine patrol spotted Downey alone in an alley between a motel and a liquor store acting in a ``suspicious'' manner and approached, not aware that it was the actor.

About a minute into their conversation, Tankenson said, the officer noticed Downey ``displaying symptoms consistent with stimulant use'' and arrested him, discovering his identity. He said no drugs were found in Downey's possession and that he cooperated with the officer.

Tankenson said a urine test would determine within several days if Downey had been under the influence of a controlled substance, which would likely lead to his being charged with misdemeanor drug possession.

Downey Checks Into Rehab

Downey's publicist, Alan Nierob, said the actor, who has had repeated brushes with the law over drugs, had ``voluntarily checked himself into an undisclosed rehabilitation facility.''

Nierob declined to comment further, referring calls to the actor's criminal attorneys, who could not be reached for comment on Tuesday afternoon.

Downey, who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in ``Chaplin,'' is awaiting trial on drug charges in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, which could send him back to prison if he is convicted.

Those charges stem from his November arrest at the Merv Griffin Resort in Palm Springs resort hotel, where police acting on an anonymous telephone tip allegedly found cocaine and the prescription drug Valium in his room.

If convicted on the Palm Springs charges, Downey could be sent back to prison for five years.

The actor is currently appearing as a guest star on ``Ally McBeal,'' playing a lawyer and the love interest of Calista Flockhart's title character.

He landed the role, which won him a Golden Globe award, just one week after his release from prison last August.

Reuters/Variety REUTERS