‘Criminal Minds’ Actor Arrested in Florida for Second Time This Year

Nicholas Brendon, the actor known for his roles on Criminal Minds and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was arrested on Friday in Tallahassee for apparently trashing his hotel room.

Our Palm Beach and Broward County criminal defense lawyers know that this isn’t Brendon’s first recent run-in with law enforcement in the Sunshine State; just last month he was arrested in Fort Lauderdale for similar reasons.

The actor faces charges of criminal mischief and property damage for allegedly causing as much as $1,000 of damage in the hotel he was staying at during a comic book convention.

We know that fame doesn’t make you immune from being arrested, especially not here in the State of Florida, where law enforcement officers take their responsibility to carry-out the law, and arrest those who fail to abide by it, seriously. Just last month, as we discussed here, 90’s rapper Vanilla Ice was arrested for what appeared to be an instance of burglary in Palm Beach.

According to USA Today, the actor damaged and flipped furniture, in addition to flipping the bed in the Hotel Duval room in which he was staying during his time in Tallahassee for what was supposed to be a two-day ALT*Con pop culture festival. Court records indicate that Brendon “smashed a porcelain figurine, pulled the phone out of the wall and clogged the toilet, spilling water out onto the room’s carpet.”

Police were called to the scene, as our Palm Beach and Broward County criminal defense lawyers understand, after reports that the actor wanted to file a report about a missing phone and wallet. When they made contact with Brendon, the Tallahassee law enforcement officers found him in a “state of confusion.”

According to the actor, he was fighting a bout of depression and had previously gone off his medication. Then, he claims, he took a bunch of sleeping pills and blacked out. This wasn’t a one-time incident, however. Last month, he was charged with a similar crime in Fort Lauderdale, and back in Ohio, he was arrested for damaging his hotel room in Idaho.

At the Hotel Duval in Tallahassee, managers determined the damage to be between $200 and $1,000. Our Palm Beach and Broward County criminal defense attorneys know that with criminal mischief resulting in property damage of between $200 and $1,000, a defendant is looking at a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable by up to $1,000 in fines and/or 1 year in prison. Given that this isn’t Brendon’s first run-in with the law, with these types of charges or even within this state, its going to take a strong legal defense to combat the prosecution, as the judge overseeing the case is likely to not extend much leniency to this repeat offender.

If you have any questions about the crime of criminal mischief and property damage, or if you’ve been arrested for this or any other crime in Palm Beach, Broward or Miami-Dade County, please contact our criminal defense lawyers at the Law Offices of Leifert & Leifert by calling 1-888-5-DEFEND (1-888-533-3363) to schedule a free consultation. We look forward to assisting you.