JACKSON – Actor and former TV host Gary Collins was in a south Mississippi jail early Wednesday, charged with a felony after being accused of leaving a restaurant without paying his bill, police said.
Rodney McGilvary, assistant chief of the Biloxi Police Department, confirmed that Collins was charged Tuesday night with defrauding an innkeeper. He was taken to the Harrison County Detention Center in Gulfport and held on a $5,000 bond.
Authorities said Collins was expected to face a court hearing during the day Wednesday.
McGilvary said he wasn”t sure if Collins had a lawyer.
Collins walked out on a $59.35 bill at Jazzeppi”s restaurant, according to a statement released by the police department. Refusing to pay a bill of more than $25 is a felony in Mississippi.
McGilvary said Collins was drinking alcohol at the restaurant, but he wasn”t sure how much or what kind of drinks were consumed.
Restaurant employees told Collins he needed to pay his bill and followed him into the parking lot, but he refused, police said. A call to Jazzeppi”s was not immediately returned.
Collins starred in the 1970s series “The Sixth Sense” and has made appearances on such series as “JAG,” ””Yes, Dear” and “The Young and the Restless,” as well as on “The New Hollywood Squares.”
He is married to Mary Anne Mobley, a former Miss America from Brandon, Miss., and they spend some of their time in the state.
In November, Collins was charged with a misdemeanor for leaving the scene of an accident in Jackson. He was fined $500. Police in that case said Collins” Jeep rear-ended a Ford Focus at a stop light. He exchanged information with the other driver, but drove off before officers arrived.
The attorney who represented Collins in that case didn”t immediately respond Wednesday to a message left by The Associated Press.
In 2007, Collins was sentenced to four days in jail as the result of a car wreck in California. Police blamed that accident on the driver of the other car, but Collins pleaded no contest to misdemeanor driving under the influence.
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