Actor Dennis Farina gets probation on gun charge

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Dennis Farina was sentenced to two years probation on Thursday after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors for carrying a loaded handgun into Los Angeles International Airport in May.

Farina, 64, a former cop who played a New York detective on the television crime series "Law & Order," was also ordered to pay $1,991 in fines and penalties, said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

The actor pleaded no contest, which is roughly equivalent to a guilty plea, to carrying a weapon into a secure area of an airport. Other charges of possessing a concealed weapon and carrying a loaded weapon in a public place were dismissed.

Security guards stopped Farina at the airport on May 11 after they discovered he was carrying a .22 caliber, semi-automatic pistol in his briefcase.

Farina was scheduled to catch a flight home to Chicago. He told police that he brought the gun with him on a drive from Arizona to Los Angeles and forgot he had it.

The next day he issued a statement blaming the incident on his "own stupidity."

Farina entered the plea through his attorney, and was not required to attend the court hearing, Mateljan said.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)