Fred Willard has been offered the opportunity to avoid prosecution after being arrested on Wednesday night in Hollywood on suspicion of lewd conduct.
The Best in Show actor can sign up for a $380 (Dh1,395) “pre-filing diversion programme” to sidestep criminal prosecution, a spokesman for the city attorney told LA Now on Friday. Willard had a previous lewd conduct arrest in 1990, prosecutors said.
If the course isn’t completed within a year, the case could still be prosecuted, spokesman Frank Mateljan told L.A. Now.
Willard, who was nabbed during vice officers’ routine inspection of the Tiki Theatre, insisted on Thursday that the situation was all “a big misunderstanding”. His attorney issued a statement saying they would be “working vigorously” to clear the 72-year-old’s name.
Even if the actor takes the diversion route, the arrest has still cost him more than $380: PBS fired him on Thursday from its Market Warriors series.
On the lighter side, Albert Brooks tweeted his support.
“I love Fred Willard,” actor-writer Brooks wrote on Thursday. “He’s a great guy. For his birthday I’m getting him a den and a computer.”
