‘Gilligan’s Island’ star busted for pot
DRIGGS, Idaho – A surprise birthday party for Dawn Wells, the actress who played Mary Ann on “Gilligan’s Island,” ended with a nearly three-hour tour of the Teton County sheriff’s office and jail when the 69-year-old was caught with marijuana in her vehicle while driving home.
Wells is now serving six months’ unsupervised probation. She was sentenced Feb. 29 to five days in jail, fined $410.50 and placed on probation after pleading guilty to one count of reckless driving.
Prosecutors dropped misdemeanour counts of driving under the influence, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance.
According to a sheriff’s, Wells was pulled over after she swerved across the fog lines and centre lines of State Highway 33 and repeatedly speeded up and slowed down.
The officer who stopped her said he smelled burning marijuana.
Wells reportedly told him that she’d just given a ride to three hitchhikers and had dropped them off when they began smoking something.
Police found three half-smoked joints in the ashtray, a fourth half-smoked joint and two small cases used to store marijuana.
Wells’ lawyer Ron Swafford said a friend admitted he’d left a small amount of marijuana in the car after having used it that day and that Wells was unaware of it.
Wells is the founder of the Idaho Film and Television Institute in Driggs and the organizer of the region’s annual family movie festival called the Spud Fest.
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