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Dine-and-dash accusation against actor Gary Collins dismissed

A case charging television host and actor Gary Collins with a dine-and-dash felony in Mississippi has been dismissed after the complaint against him was withdrawn on Wednesday.
/ Source: Reuters

A case charging television host and actor Gary Collins with a dine-and-dash felony in Mississippi has been dismissed after the complaint against him was withdrawn on Wednesday.

Collins had been accused of skipping out on a restaurant tab in Biloxi.

He starred in the 1970s series "The Sixth Sense" and had appearances on such series as "JAG," "Yes, Dear" and "The Young and the Restless," as well as on "The New Hollywood Squares."

Collins, 72, is married to Mary Anne Mobley, a former Miss America from Brandon, Mississippi, and they spend some of their time in the state. Collins had been a host of the Miss America pageant.

The employee of Jazzeppi's restaurant who filed an affidavit over a $59.35 bill in January withdrew his complaint against Collins in court, and after questioning the employee, Judge Albert Fountain dismissed the case.

Anything more than $25 is a felony in Mississippi, and Collins had been charged with defrauding an innkeeper.

Employees at the restaurant had told police they reminded Collins about the bill as he left. They said they even followed him to the parking lot, but he refused to stop.

Collins was arrested in his Biloxi home after employees called the police. He had been freed after paying $5,000 bail.

Biloxi police detective Tim McKaid said after the arrest that Collins had told him restaurant employees "were taking too long to bring his steak and he did not eat his steak. He said he was afraid he would be too drunk to drive by the time they brought it so he decided to leave."

Collins was charged with a misdemeanor last year for leaving the scene of an accident in Jackson, and was fined $500 in that case.

In 2007, Collins was sentenced to four days in jail as the result of a car wreck in California. Police blamed that accident on the driver of the other car, though Collins pleaded no contest to misdemeanor driving under the influence.

Collins made no comments in court on Wednesday and had not entered a plea before the case was dismissed.