Renfro Busted for Boozing

ByABC News
May 21, 2001, 7:19 PM

May 18 -- Actor Brad Renfro broke into movies playing a kid mixed up in a legal brouhaha in The Client, and he's been revisiting that role ever since in real life.

On Wednesday, the troubled teen got himself into another fine mess when a traffic stop resulted in his being taken into custody for liquor law violations. Picked up in his hometown of Knoxville, Tenn., Renfro was briefly incarcerated before securing his release by posting a $500 bond.

Renfro, 18, was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over for a traffic light violation, according to a spokesman for the Knox County Sheriff's Department. The underage imbiber was arrested after admitting to possession and consumption of alcohol.

The incident is the latest in a string of legal run-ins that have bedeviled the young star, last seen by moviegoers playing a game of bluff and blackmail with Ian McKellen in the 1998 Stephen King adaptation Apt Pupil. Renfro got slapped with a two-year probation sentence and a $4,000 fine earlier this year after attempting to steal a yacht in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; three years ago, he briefly faced drug possession charges before prosecutors dropped the matter.

Authorities did not say whether Renfro's alcohol arrest would affect the terms of his Florida probation.

Coincidentally, a story that ran earlier this week in The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Renfro is considering joining the cast of an indie feature called Lifers' Picnic. That would be "lifers" as in prison inmates in for the long haul; the picnic is a social event that offers them a glimpse of the world beyond the bars.

Jena Malone (Contact) and Clifton Collins Jr., who memorably played a fey, doomed Mexican assassin in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, may also star in the film, which is set to begin production in June.