Mary Ann of Gilligan's Island Busted

I have an update for my mug shot gallery of the rich and/or famous and/or notorious.





















The new addition: Dawn Wells, Mary Ann of Gilligan's Island


(Dawn Wells mug shot/Smoking Gun)

She looks happy enough.

DRIGGS, Idaho -- Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island," is serving six months' unsupervised probation after allegedly being caught with marijuana in her car.

She was sentenced Feb. 29 to five days in jail, fined $410.50 and placed on probation after pleading guilty to one count of reckless driving.

Under a plea agreement, three misdemeanor counts — driving under the influence, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance — were dropped.

On Oct. 18, Teton County sheriff's Deputy Joseph Gutierrez arrested Wells as she was driving home from a surprise birthday party that was held for her. According to the sheriff's office report, Gutierrez pulled Wells over after noticing her swerve and repeatedly speed up and slow down. When Gutierrez asked about a marijuana smell, Wells said she'd just given a ride to three hitchhikers and had dropped them off when they began smoking something. Gutierrez found half-smoked joints and two small cases used to store marijuana.

The 69-year-old Wells, founder of the Idaho Film and Television Institute and organizer of the region's annual family movie festival called the Spud Fest, then failed a sobriety test.

Wells' lawyer, Ron Swafford, said that a friend of Wells' testified that he'd left a small amount of marijuana in the vehicle after using it that day, and that Wells was unaware of it. Swafford also said several witnesses were prepared to testify that Wells had very little to drink at the party and was not intoxicated when she left. He said she was swerving on the road because she was trying to find the heater controls in her new car.

I guess now we know why Mary Ann's coconut cream pie was such a hit with the castaways on Gilligan's Island. She added a secret ingredient.

OK.

Wells' friends are prepared to testify on her behalf. This is all a big mistake.

Then why did Wells tell police that "she'd just given a ride to three hitchhikers and had dropped them off when they began smoking something"?

How lame! I doubt that a nearly 70-year-old woman would even consider picking up three hitchhikers.

If Wells wanted to concoct a story, she could have said she had marijuana for medicinal purposes.

That would have been a more plausible, as well as sympathetic, explanation.