Son Of Farrah Fawcett, Ryan O'Neal Arrested In Santa Monica Knifepoint Robbery
SANTA MONICA (CBSLA) – The troubled 33-year-old son of actor Ryan O'Neal and the late actress Farrah Fawcett was arrested Tuesday on felony drug and robbery charges after he tried to hold up a Santa Monica convenience store at knifepoint, authorities said.
Redmond James O'Neal, a convicted felon, was charged Thursday with one count each of second-degree robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a smoking device and possession of an injection/ingestion device, The Los Angeles County district attorney's office reports. He also faces two count of possessing a controlled substance.
In the early morning hours of May 8, O'Neal entered a convenience store, showed a knife and demanded cash from the clerk, the DA's office said. Los Angeles police responded and arrested him near the store at around 3 a.m. O'Neal had drugs and drug paraphernalia on him at the time.
O'Neal has a history of drug and weapons-related arrests. In 2009 he was convicted of possession of a controlled substance while in jail. In 2015 he was convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon.
If convicted of the latest charges, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
He is being held without bail because he was on probation at the time of his arrest, and is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.
Prosecutors are asking that bail be set at $125,000.
O'Neal was released in October 2012 from a live-in drug rehabilitation program where he had spent a year. O'Neal had been sent to the facility after pleading no contest in August 2011 to one count each of heroin possession and possession of a firearm by a felon -- charges that stemmed from a traffic stop in Santa Monica. He was sentenced in 2011 to spend a year in the drug program and to serve five years on probation.
He was also on probation at the time for a felony drug count stemming from his April 2009 arrest in a county jail parking lot in Castaic.
In 2010, he graduated from a drug court program for a pair of drug possession cases -- one involving possession of heroin and methamphetamine and the other involving possession of meth.
(©2018 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
