Comedian and actor Paul Rodriguez has been charged in connection with his arrest last month at a Burbank restaurant, the Burbank City Attorney’s Office told NBC4 Investigates.
Rodriguez faces misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and possession of a controlled substance. A court date was scheduled for Friday.
NBCLA has reached out to a representative for Rodriguez for comment on the charges.
Officers responded to a call Aug. 11 for a welfare check at about 7:30 p.m. at Islands restaurant about a woman with the 70-year-old Rodriguez, Burbank police said. Rodriguez and the woman were driving away, but stopped to speak with officers, police said.
The woman was arrested on suspicion of drug possession and, after searching the car, police arrested Rodriguez on suspicion of misdemeanor possession of narcotics. Law enforcement sources told NBC Los Angeles police found Xanax and suspected fentanyl in the car.
Rodriguez denied the drugs were his, police said.
Jail records indicated Rodriguez was cited and released this next morning.
The charges come after Rodriguez was arrested in March after a traffic stop near Victory Boulevard and Lamer Street in Burbank. Rodriguez was a passenger in a car in which Burbank police said narcotics were discovered.
Rodriguez told TMZ the drugs did not belong to him.
In November, a 54-year-old friend of Rodriguez died at his home in a drug-related fatality. Donald Serrato’s cause of death was due to effects of fentanyl, phencyclidine and methamphetamine, according to the coroner’s office.
Rodriguez told TMZ the man had been staying with him for a few days and that he called home one morning after leaving for work, but received no response. Rodriguez said his girlfriend found Serrato dead after he asked her to check on him, TMZ reported.
Rodriguez moved to East Los Angeles from Mexico in his youth before embarking on a standup comedy career in Los Angeles’ comedy clubs in the 1970s. He rose to international fame, hosting comedy specials and acting in dozens of films. Rodriguez also has hosted TV shows on Univision and MTV.