Rip Torn Mistook Bank for His Home, Says Lawyer

By PopEater Staff Posted Feb 1st 2010 03:10PM

Rip Torn was so intoxicated last Friday night that he believed he was in his own home when he was arrested brandishing a loaded revolver at a local bank, the actor's lawyer said Monday. "Obviously, he wasn't there intending to commit a crime," A. Thomas Waterfall told a judge at Torn's arraignment hearing in Superior Court in Bantam, Connecticut.

According to an arrest report, police responded to an alarm at the Litchfield Bancorp in Salisbury around 9:45 p.m. Friday and found Torn inside "walking around in the lobby of the teller area." He had shattered a window to get into the bank and a pair of boots was found lying on the floor. Torn was acting "highly intoxicated," sources tell TMZ.

He has been charged with criminal trespass, criminal mischief, carrying a weapon without a permit and burglary and has posted $100,000 bond. His next court date was set for Feb. 17 in Litchfield.

Waterfall told reporters that Torn will enter a rehab facility in New York as early as Tuesday.

Torn, who turns 79 on Saturday, made his first court appearance shortly before 10:30 a.m., the Hartford Courant reports, where he and three other men sat shackled together on a bench and were read their rights before being led back to a holding area.

Torn, whose real first name is Elmore, has a history of alcohol abuse and was sentenced last year to probation in Connecticut for driving drunk. He agreed to enter an alcohol education program, but it's unclear if he attended. He also has two previous drunken driving arrests in New York and is responsible for one of the most notorious celebrity mug shots in history.

The actor's acting career has not slowed down in light of his legal problems. Torn regularly appears on NBC's '30 Rock' and he had prominent roles in huge films such as 'Dodgeball' and 'Bee Movie.' His distinct voice is in high demand for animated films, like this year's 'Cat Tale.'

Tags: Rip Torn, RipTorn

Comments

(72)

Tuesday 02 February

By rlau290541

Vote down Vote up Report this

I guess Torn's first hint was the teller counter at the bank acutally had pens that worked.

By mcccmar45

the man is a chronic alchoholic - he should have been in rehab a long time ago

By Robert Wayne

Bleu....You know where you can shove it you stupid S.O.B.

By betty boop

Good Lord, Rip, how drunk do you have to be to think you are living in a bank? That's when passing out is the better option.

By T.Smith

Yea, Just say no to Alcohol! Just like all these little conservatives wanting to keep marijuana illegal but, wanting to keep their precious alcohol legal so they can keep getting drunk on the crap. Weed has never, ever made anybody as totally mindless that alcohol does on a daily basis to alot of people. If ol Rip was stoned instead of drunk he would have never acted like that, he would have never been that far gone mentally from smoking weed that he was from drinking alcohol that night. However, the drunk consrvatives out there want to keep alcohol legal and keep the weed illegal, go figure!

By memrt

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. But the Money always helps warm the bones .....

By gerby

ok, number one. how in the hell did he get in a bank? uh hello hello hello, that is somebodys money at risk. seriously yo uneed to get the person in trouble who is responsible for keeping the bank safe. fire them and investigate them. i am going to keep up with this story for sure. no two. he thought it was his house cause look at the fricking bank. it looks like a house. so not his fault. yes, he needs to be in rehab so he will quit drinking. but rehab wont help his state of emotions. he needs to try gaba. he has some kind of minor imbalance, no kidding, and gaba, minute amounts, or diet or tryptophan, minute amounts, may help. i dunno, but that is a start. he is volatile and rather violent and so is charlie sheen. it has to do with messed up metabolism, or metabolic problems or thyroid. look around and u will see that many have this. but rehab doesnt really help people who have this disorder cause they inevitably go back to drinking. i dont believe that you can get hooked on alcohol anyway. that is an excuse for this disorder. i doubt he will ever get in serious trouble tho.

By dade

i do think that they should check on his kids as he has had some violent runins in the past. if he has kids living at home they should check on them. and his wife too, tho they prolly wont say anything, but they need to be checked on at least once. in other words, this nam needs to straighten himself up, and quit blaming his disorder on drink, and just stop doing the bad stuff. the world can see what he is doing to himself and his family and he needs to just stop. he needs to try everyting at his disposal to feel better so he will act better and no more alcohol tho people who abuse alcohol are trying to raise their gaba tho they dont know this, cause well nobody really knows alcohol enhances gaba so he needs to look into the gaba aspect of his addiction as well and try a natural approach. exercise four hours a day and eat veggies and juice veggies not so much the dark as celery carrots and collard greens. cut out sugar alcohol bread to the inth degree and eat to feel better so whatever works.

By richard fusilier de la Claire

Boy! Does this nation need sage leadership? Where is it?

By Bisbee15

TORN up...that's what he wuz!

By Marie

Yes, would love to know how he got to the bank!! How many "strikes" is it before you're "out"? If it were any of us we'd be locked up and the key thrown away. Think he's PAST getting "re-hab", he needs to be put away before he kills someone!

By olegreenberet

ihave been all over the world, and have had the best booze around, been pretty much out of it a couple of times, but never have i mistaken a bank for my home with a gun-bulls--t

Page 4 of 4