The onetime Tiger Beat pinup appeared in a Los Angeles court Thursday on cocaine and heroin possession charges.
Garrett, 37, was one of 10 people arrested June 29 in Los Angeles' notoriously drug-riddled MacArthur Park region, police and prosecution officials say. A search of the former teen idol allegedly turned up both coke and heroin. His agent did not return a call for comment.
The bust went down in the mid-afternoon hours at an apartment building. Garrett entered the building and, presumably unwittingly, asked an undercover cop for $40 worth of crack cocaine, Victoria Pipkin of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office says.
Garrett, who listed his occupation with authorities as "musician," is free on $10,000 bail.
On Thursday, the entertainer asked a judge to delay arraignment in order to see whether he was eligible for a drug diversion program. (A move that would eliminate jail time.) A new hearing was set for August 13.
The arrest comes as Garrett was busy on the would-be comeback trail. In a VH1 Behind the Music special on his career that debuted to big ratings last January, Garrett talked about being a recovered heroin addict.
Boosted by the cable exposure, Garrett hit the talk-show circuit, including a stop on Rosie O'Donnell last spring. He chatted up his new band, Godspeed, a three-man outfit attached to a Los Angeles label, name of Tongue & Groove Records (www.leifgarrett.com).
Garrett scored his lone Top 10 hit in 1979, at age 17, with the disco-esque "I Was Made For Dancing." In 1977, he cracked the Top 20 with a cover of the Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA."
In the late 1970s, Garrett completed the holy trinity of teen idols that included Shaun Cassidy and Andy Gibb. Garrett's popularity was the most remarkable considering his credits arguably were the slimmest. Aside from the cover tunes and a brief run on TV's acclaimed Family, Garrett's fame seemed mostly based on innumerable shirtless shots of his prepubescent person in teen fanzines.
(ORIGINALLY POSTED at 11:40 a.m. on 7/8/99)