Brad Renfro Arrested

Actor Brad Renfro was arrested Thursday afternoon in a sting operation after he allegedly tried to buy heroin near the Skid Row area downtown, officials said.

Renfro, 23, was booked for investigation of felony attempting to possess heroin, said Detective Ron Hodges of the Los Angeles Police Department.

"He was intending to buy real heroin from an undercover officer," Hodges said.

Renfro, whose credits include "Ghost World," "Bully," "The Jacket" and "The Client," was caught during a random sting operation that resulted in the arrests of 14 other suspects, Hodges said.

His lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment placed after business hours Thursday.

Renfro, a native of Knoxville, Tenn., was charged in 1998 with possession of cocaine and marijuana, but avoided jail time in a plea deal.

He was placed on probation in January 2001 and ordered to pay $4,000 for repairs to a 45-foot yacht he and a friend tried to steal in Florida in August 2000. He was subsequently ordered into an alcohol rehabilitation program in March 2002 for violating his probation in the yacht case.

He was also arrested in May 2001 and charged with underage drinking, which violated terms of his probation.

Renfro was discovered as a fifth-grader and cast with Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones in 1994's "The Client," portraying a young witness to a crime who is marked for death.