Redmond O'Neal Sent Back to Rehab, Last "Opportunity"

Ryan O'Neal and Farrah Fawcett's messed-up son sentenced to fourth stint in drug treatment

Well, Redmond O'Neal does have an Angel looking after him...

That might explain why the scofflaw son of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal managed to escape prison time and instead wound up sentenced to rehab for two drug cases.

The 24-year-old's fourth stint in rehab will last at least a year and require him to be at the locked-down Wayside Honor Ranch for part of the treatment, according to Los Angeles D.A. spokeswoman Jane Robison.

"Drug court is just a more intensive drug rehab program," Robison tells E! News. "It's at least a yearlong program, and depending on how well he does it could be longer than a year."

The sentence, issued Thursday afternoon by a Los Angeles court commissioner, stems from a DUI and drug possession case that he pleaded guilty to last June and a probation violation from last September, when he was caught in possession of methamphetamines during a routine probation checkup.

O'Neal will attend one-on-one counseling sessions, group counseling and a 12-step program, and submit to random drug tests. He also waived his right to keep-away status, so he'll join the general population for his time at Wayside.

"If he completes this program successfully, his criminal convictions in the two cases will be dismissed," Robison said. "If he doesn't, he could be kicked out of the program and sent back to [criminal] court and face up to four years in state prison."

Reports are due back on May 14. The next progress report O'Neal will be required to attend is set for May 28.

"I want to welcome you to the drug court family," Assistant District Attorney Anthony Estradas told the younger O'Neal, who was dressed in jail garb.

The prosecutor added that the program was an "opportunity" for Redmond to change his life and be "around people who care about your recovery and care about you."

O'Neal is not out of the woods just yet.

Yesterday, in a separate case, he pleaded not guilty to felony drug possession stemming from his arrest last month, when officers allegedly found heroin on O'Neal as he visited an inmate at a California lockup. He has been incarcerated since that arrest, save for a trip home last weekend to visit his ailing mother.

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