Bridges Freed; Prosecutor Refuses to File Drug Charges

Actor Todd Bridges was released from jail Tuesday after the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office declined to file drug charges in his latest arrest, which occurred Saturday in North Hollywood.

Authorities said they had insufficient evidence to file charges against the 24-year-old actor. However, a man arrested with Bridges, Stephen Mallen, 36, of North Hollywood, was charged with one count of possession of cocaine for sale. He was being held at the Van Nuys jail in lieu of $20,000 bail.

Bridges of Sun Valley and Mallen were arrested early Saturday by Los Angeles police when patrol officers became suspicious after seeing the two men seated in the actor’s car, which was parked in front of a closed business on Victory Boulevard at Tujunga Avenue. After questioning the men, officers found more than 3 ounces of cocaine in the vehicle and in Mallen’s possession, police said.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Norm Shapiro said there was insufficient evidence to prove that Bridges was in possession of any of the cocaine. The prosecutor said the cocaine was found in Mallen’s pants pocket, his wallet and in a bag between Mallen’s seat and the passenger door.

“We are unable to show Bridges was in possession of any of the narcotics,” Shapiro said. “We can’t prove that he had control over any of it.”

Bridges, who had been held in the Van Nuys jail since his arrest, was released Tuesday afternoon.

Bridges, a former star of the NBC sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes,” is currently facing trial on an assault charge stemming from allegations that he shot and wounded a drug dealer inside a South-Central Los Angeles cocaine “rock” house in February, 1989.

In November, Bridges was acquitted of charges of attempted murder and attempted voluntary manslaughter in that case. But jurors deadlocked on a third charge of assault with a deadly weapon, and Bridges was released on $25,000 bail while awaiting a retrial on that charge.

Prosecutors alleged that Bridges shot Kenneth Clay, 25, eight times while inside the rock house.

Previously, Bridges received a suspended sentence in 1987 after pleading no contest to making a bomb threat. In 1983, he was fined $240 for carrying a concealed weapon.