1970s teen idol in heroin bust

LOS ANGELES - Former teen idol Leif Garrett was charged with heroin possession yesterday after spending three days in a Los Angeles jail following an arrest for subway fare dodging, the district-attorney's office said.

Garrett, 44, a child actor who turned to music in the 1970s and had smash hits with I Was Made for Dancing and a remake of Surfin' USA, was arrested on Sunday at a subway station in downtown Los Angeles.

Transit police Lieutenant Mike Herek said Garrett had no train ticket and later checks turned up the suspected drugs.

Garrett had pleaded guilty last March to attempted cocaine possession and was on probation at the time of his arrest.

He was charged with heroin possession and fare evasion yesterday and was expected to make another court appearance later in the week.

Garrett, whose good looks and floppy blond hair made teenage girls swoon in the mid 1970s, was arrested in Los Angeles in 1999 on charges of trying to buy drugs from undercover officers.

In 1979, he was behind the wheel of a car that plunged down a hillside and left his passenger paralysed.

- REUTERS