(KTLA) – Earlier this week, Burbank, California, authorities arrested comedian and actor Paul Rodriguez on suspicion of drug possession, as reported by several media outlets.
The arrest unfolded Monday evening at around 8:30 p.m. in a parking structure in Burbank’s downtown area, The Los Angeles Times reported.
A bystander allegedly requested a welfare check, expressing concerns about a man, identified as Rodriguez, and a woman leaving a nearby restaurant who seemed “intoxicated and not alert.” Officers encountered the individuals fitting the description provided by the reporting party.
Rodriguez was reportedly behind the wheel of the vehicle, with the woman in the passenger seat.
“The investigation uncovered alprazolam [Xanax] and heroin in the woman’s personal bag,” stated Burbank Police Sgt. Stephen Turner to The Times, noting that the woman was detained on suspicion of drug possession.
Within the 70-year-old actor’s vehicle, officers allegedly discovered pills they believed to be fentanyl and Xanax, although Rodriguez refuted ownership of the substances.
Records from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office show he was cited and released the next day.
This incident follows another encounter with Burbank police in March, during which he was purportedly found with narcotics in a traffic stop.
At that time, Rodriguez informed TMZ that he was a passenger in a car pulled over for a traffic violation, claiming that a “Caucasian” officer on a “power trip” slapped him to wake him.
Bobby Samini, the actor’s attorney, told the outlet that Rodriguez cooperated with law enforcement and was not under the influence, nor did he have any controlled substances on his person, adding that the March 28 arrest was a violation of his client’s civil rights and that they would establish “Mr. Rodriguez’s innocence in a court of law.”
The Mexican-born comic, who grew up in East L.A., is best known for his standup comedy work, though he began working as an actor in sitcoms in the 1980s and starred in well-known films like “Blood Work” with Clint Eastwood and “The Whoopee Boys” with Michael O’Keefe.
