Rip Torn Applies for 1st-Time Offender Program

Actor Rip Torn has been charged with drunken driving on three occasions in New York and Connecticut and also with breaking into a bank that he thought was his home.

On Tuesday, his lawyer applied for the 79-year-old star of Men in Black, NBC’s “30 Rock” and Airplane II to be admitted to accelerated rehabilitation.

The probation program is for first-time offenders and allows for charges to be dropped after a probation period. Prosecutors say they plan to oppose Torn’s request during another hearing on Aug. 11.

Torn, whose real name is Elmore, is accused of breaking into a Salisbury bank after hours on Jan. 29, drunk and carrying a loaded gun.

Torn was confused and mistook the bank for his home, which is about a half-mile down the road in Salisbury, his attorney, A. Thomas Waterfall, said.

Torn pleaded not guilty to trespassing and other charges in connection and prosecutors also dropped a burglary charge, agreeing with Waterfall that there was no intent to burglarize the bank.

The arrest happened eight months after he was charged with DUI. In December 2008, he was stopped on Route 44 in Salisbury after leaving the White Hart Inn and entered a yearlong alcohol education program in May 2009.

In May of this year, a judge dropped a DUI charge against Torn after he completed the program.

Waterfall has said his top priority is to avoid jail time for his client.

Contact Us