Teen Actor Brad Renfro Charged With Theft

August 30, 2000 -- Young actor Brad Renfro and a companion have been charged with grand theft by Florida police after they allegedly tried to steal a 45-foot yacht early Monday.

According to police reports quoted in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, two people sleeping in a neighboring boat heard an engine start up at 3:40 a.m. and awoke to see Renfro, 18, and Harold Bond, 24, trying to drive the $175,000 boat away from its dock in a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., harbor.

The witnesses claimed that Renfro and his partner forgot to untie the yacht's dock lines, which caused the boat to be yanked back and to crash into the dock, damaging its stern. The witnesses apparently yelled at the two young men to stop and then dragged them off the boat and held them until police and the boat's manager arrived on the scene.

Renfro was released from jail Monday night after posting $10,000 bail. The one-time teen pinup is in Fort Lauderdale filming Bully, a twisted true story about a group of tormented suburban teens who murder their abusive high-school classmate.

"[Renfro] seemed to be the most distraught about being arrested," yacht manager Paul Roydhouse told the Sun-Sentinel.

The Apt Pupil star has been in legal hot water before. In 1998, he was arrested in his hometown of Knoxville, Tenn., when police pulled him over and allegedly found cocaine and marijuana in his pants and socks. Renfro agreed to undergo random drug screening as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors.

A Fort Lauderdale Police Department spokesman said Renfro was evasive when detectives interrogated him Monday morning. Police are currently investigating whether the actor and his friend — who is still being held on $10,000 bail — were using drugs or alcohol at the time of the incident.

Renfro also appeared in Sleepers and John Grisham's The Client. He won The Hollywood Reporter's Young Star Award in 1995 and has been named one of People magazine's Top 30 under 30.