Actor Violates Probation, Gets Jail Term

A San Fernando Municipal Court judge on Monday sent actor Adam Rich to County Jail for 30 days after ruling that he had violated his probation when he was expelled from a drug rehabilitation program last week for not cooperating with the program’s administrators.

Judge Nora M. Manella revoked probation given Rich on a shoplifting charge--one of three drug-related court cases in which he is a defendant.

She then granted a new probation period of two years if Rich, 23, enters and completes another drug rehabilitation program after serving his jail time.

Manella told Rich, who was handcuffed and wearing purple-tinted glasses and a blue County Jail jumpsuit, that he would have to deal with his drug problem or the criminal justice system would “put you out of circulation for a period of time.”

Rich played Nicholas Bradford, the youngest son, on the TV series “Eight Is Enough.”

If Rich does not complete a drug program, Manella said she would sentence him to complete the 150-day balance of a jail sentence she had imposed as part of a plea agreement connected to an April shoplifting incident at a Northridge department store.

Rich is also facing separate charges of burglarizing a West Hills pharmacy to obtain drugs and stealing a drug-filled syringe from a Marina del Rey hospital.

A preliminary hearing in Van Nuys Municipal Court is scheduled Thursday on the Marina del Rey charge. The same day, a Van Nuys Superior Court judge is expected to rule on a bail reduction motion by Rich’s attorney, Floyd J. Siegal, on the burglary charge. Rich is to go to trial on that charge Jan. 23.

After Rich was taken into custody last week for being dismissed from the drug rehabilitation program, a Van Nuys Superior Court judge raised Rich’s bail on the burglary charge from $20,000 to $100,000.