Redmond O'Neal headed back to residential drug treatment

The troubled son of Ryan O'Neal and the late Farrah Fawcett is headed back to a residential drug treatment program after being in custody since late December on a probation violation stemming from a series of drug offenses, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Redmond O'Neal, 25, was remanded into sheriff's custody Dec. 29 and then sent back to an in-custody drug treatment program a week later. But the decision by Judge Michael Tynan means O'Neal will be freed from custody to resume his treatment in a residential drug program, authorities said.

O'Neal was jailed last year after he was found in possession of heroin during a routine security check by deputies at the parking lot of the Pitchess Detention Center.

On Sept. 18, a judge sentenced O'Neal to three years formal probation and a six-year suspended sentence stemming from that case. He had been attending a court-ordered drug program.

In September 2008, he and his father were charged with felony drug possession after the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, conducting a search at Ryan O'Neal's Malibu home, reportedly found methamphetamine in the actor's bedroom and on the younger O'Neal.

At the time, Redmond O'Neal was on probation after a guilty plea in June 2008 to felony drug possession and misdemeanor driving under the influence. The charges stemmed from his arrest while driving in Malibu carrying heroin and methamphetamine. His plea allowed him to avoid jail time. He was sentenced to three years' probation and $1,688 in fines for the DUI charge.

Against the backdrop of his struggles with drug addiction, O'Neal also had to deal with the June 2009 death of his mother from cancer.

-- Andrew Blankstein

Comments

[beau]

Dont judge the guy needs help..Remember his mom died..

[Robbie]

My heart goes out to Redmond O'Neal not because his a habitual user but because I suggest he could have brain damage to the point of being unable to recover from his compulsive desire to use..Although it's suggested to be honest with ones self with excuses to use from lose of loved ones and grief, I honestly believe there are a percentage of people that are incurable due to a hypothalamus impairment.

Almost like a prada willy syndrome relationship to brain damage and the inability to ever stop the compulsion to use.

We can always hope, however I've seen such people as these; no matter what god, hospital, love, money, or organization can ever help and fail..I suggest it's physiological and should be examined neurologically to start with.
What ever it takes to rule out such compelling addictions it would give the
patient a better understanding to helping themselves in the right direction.

Locking him up won't ever work..we need to explore instead of incarcerate.

[bruce]

I agree that this poor kid needs help. He now has millions in a trust set up by his late mother which should go towards helping him get clean. Locking up an addict won't solve his many problems. His paternal family has serious issues w/drug abuse and sadly Redmond inherited them.