Actor Tom Sizemore charged with domestic abuse

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actor Tom Sizemore, who co-starred in the films “Saving Private Ryan” and “Black Hawk Down” before he was convicted in 2003 of assaulting ex-girlfriend Heidi Fleiss, has been charged with domestic abuse stemming from an arrest in July.

Sizemore, 54, faces one count each of three misdemeanors – abuse of an intimate partner, battery of an intimate partner and making terrorist threats – all punishable by up to a year in jail, the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office said on Wednesday.

The actor, freed on $50,000 bond following his arrest, is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 15, according to Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for prosecutors.

The case was referred to the city attorney for review after the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined earlier this month to bring more serious felony charges against the performer.

Sizemore was arrested in downtown Los Angeles on July 19 after an altercation that left visible marks on his alleged victim, who has not been publicly identified, police reported at the time.

According to Mateljan, the woman, who was Sizemore’s girlfriend, told investigators the actor struck her in the head and face after an argument that turned physical.

Sizemore’s manager, Charles Lago, declined to comment except to confirm that the actor was charged on Tuesday. Lago also said Sizemore’s lawyer was not speaking to the media.

Sizemore is best known on screen for two high-profile roles in war films – as the battle-hardened sergeant at Tom Hanks’ side in 1998’s “Saving Private Ryan,” and as commander of an Army Ranger battalion in 2001’s “Black Hawk Down.”

In more recent years, Sizemore has had recurring roles in a number of television shows, including a “Hawaii Five-O” reboot in which he played a police captain in 2011-12. He is due to appear in an upcoming USA Network drama “Shooter,” set to debut this fall.

His career has long been overshadowed by run-ins with the law, most notably a 2003 conviction for beating and threatening ex-girlfriend and former “Hollywood madam” Fleiss, for which he was sentenced to six months in jail.

Sizemore also has been in and out of courts, jail and rehab on various drug charges over the years. In 2005, his probation on a methamphetamine possession case was revoked when he admitted using a prosthetic penis in a bid to fake a urine test.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Bill Rigby)