Marijuana Charges Dropped Against 'Married with Children' Actor

[Herb Fellow]

DeLAND - The actor best known for playing Bud Bundy on TV's Married . . . with Children no longer faces a marijuana charge in Volusia County.

Prosecutors recently dropped the misdemeanor charge against David Faustino after the 34-year-old Los Angeles resident completed a substance-abuse treatment program in California.

"He received no special treatment from the State Attorney's Office," said his Daytona Beach defense attorney, Mike Rodriguez. "He did what was asked of him, and he fulfilled all of his conditions."

He became famous as the son in the dysfunctional Bundy family on the TV series, which ran from 1987 to 1997. In 2006, he worked in Puff, Puff, Pass, a comedy film laced with marijuana jokes. It was a small bag of marijuana and a strong odor of alcohol on his breath that got him arrested in May.

New Smyrna Beach police Officer David Freeman spotted a car that had stopped in the intersection of Flagler and Peninsula avenues at 2 a.m. May 12, according to a police report. Andrea Faustino, who was his wife at the time, was driving, and Faustino, who was sitting in the back, tried to climb out through the driver's window. Her door opened, and David Faustino got out. The couple continued arguing in the middle of the intersection until the officer stepped in and arrested David Faustino for disorderly intoxication and possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana. Freeman found the marijuana in Faustino's front pants pocket.

The couple divorced in December.

Prosecutors didn't pursue the disorderly intoxication charge but did file the marijuana charge.

Then Faustino agreed to undergo a drug-treatment program, which included four random drug tests, to have the misdemeanor dropped. Linda Pruitt, spokeswoman for the State Attorney's Office in the 7th Judicial Circuit, said defendants with minor drug offenses and little or no other prior criminal history can opt to sign a deferred-prosecution agreement and have the case closed upon successful completion.

Source: Orlando Sentinel
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