DAWN WELLS - ACTRESS WELLS ON PROBATION FOR RECKLESS DRIVING

GILLIGAN'S ISLAND star DAWN WELLS spent five days in jail last week (ends07Mar08) after pleading guilty to reckless driving following a recent arrest on suspicion of possessing marijuana. The 69-year-old star was sentenced to five days in jail, placed on six months' probation and fined $410.50 (GBP255.25) at a hearing in Driggs, Idaho on 29 February (08). Wells agreed to plead guilty under the terms of an agreement that saw three other charges - driving under the influence, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia - dropped. She was stopped by cops on 18 October (07) as she was driving home from a surprise birthday party held for her, after officers spotted her vehicle swerving across a road. Teton County Sheriff's Deputy Joseph Gutierrez claimed he found half-smoked joints and two small cases used to store marijuana in her car. Wells also failed a field sobriety test. The actress told Gutierrez she'd given a lift to three hitchhikers who had begun smoking the joints, and that she was swerving in the road because she was trying to turn up the heating in her car. Before the plea agreement was finalised, her lawyer Ron Swafford told the hearing that a friend of the star had admitted leaving the marijuana in Wells' car and that several witnesses were prepared to testify that Wells wasn't intoxicated when she left the party.