BURBANK : Actor Ordered Into Treatment Program
A judge Thursday ordered former “Diff’rent Strokes” star Todd Bridges to spend one year in a drug treatment program for possessing a small amount of methamphetamine and a loaded handgun.
Although prosecutors asked for a stiff prison term, Pasadena Superior Court Judge Thomas W. Stoever placed Bridges on probation for five years and ordered him to check into a residential therapy program today.
The judge suspended a six-year sentence, but threatened to send Bridges to prison if he violates the conditions of his probation.
“I argued that he should just send him to state prison for five years right now and don’t mess around with probation,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol Rash said.
Bridges, a 28-year-old Sun Valley resident, pleaded guilty in July to two felony charges: transportation of methamphetamine and possession of drugs with a firearm.
Burbank police reported pulling over Bridges’ 1988 Mercedes-Benz on Dec. 29, and discovering a loaded 9-millimeter handgun and 1 1/2 grams of cocaine.
Bridges was arrested in March on suspicion of stabbing a tenant in his house. Prosecutors declined to file charges in the case because the victim, 23-year-old David Kitchen, was arguing with Bridges and had armed himself with a sword.
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