VAN NUYS : Former Child Actor Pleads No Contest to Drug Charge

In an acrimonious sentencing session, former child actor Adam Rich was ordered Monday to complete a residential drug rehabilitation program, but he had a four-year prison sentence suspended after pleading no contest to drug and burglary charges.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Teri M. Hutchinson opposed the sentence, saying that Rich, 24, should have been required to serve at least one year in County Jail for breaking into a West Hills pharmacy in April, 1991, and stealing a drug-filled syringe from a Marina del Rey Hospital in October.

“This is not an equitable solution that the people can accept,” said Hutchinson. “The people have nothing to do with accepting the plea.” Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Kathryne Ann Stoltz said the district attorney’s office was seeking a harsher sentence for Rich simply “to curry favor in the media in a year when the head of the office is seeking reelection.”