Gary Collins Arrested for Allegedly Skipping Out on Bill
(CBS/AP)Former TV host and actor Gary Collins has allegedly dined and dashed and is paying a bigger price than his $59.35 tab.
According to police, Collins was released from custody Wednesday after being charged with a felony over accusations that he left a restaurant without paying his $59.35 bill.
According to Mississippi law, refusing to pay a restaurant bill of more than $25 is a felony.
Assistant Chief Rodney McGilvary of the Biloxi Police Department said the former TV host was charged Tuesday night with defrauding an innkeeper and held overnight at the Gulfport detention center on a $5,000 bond.
Collins posted bond Wednesday and was released. Authorities say no court date was set and McGilvary said he wasn't sure whether Colllins had a lawyer.
Jazzeppi's restaurant owner David Mattina told The Sun Herald he wasn't present Tuesday night, but regretted the incident. He told the newspaper Colllins had been a customer for a while and he would seek to have the charge dropped.
This isn't the first time Collins has allegedly fled the scene. In November, Collins was charged with a misdemeanor for leaving the scene of a minor auto accident in Jackson. He was fined $500. The attorney who represented him in that case didn't immediately respond Wednesday to a message left by The Associated Press.
Collins is married to Mary Anne Mobley, a former Miss America from Mississippi.