Russell Brand's Cell Phone Incident Is Actually A Felony

When Russell Brand turned himself in to Louisiana authorities yesterday, it was assumed the actor would wind up with a warning or perhaps a small slap on the wrist. After all, while throwing a photographer’s iPhone through a law office window isn’t an awesome thing to do, the action hardly amounts to a jail worthy offense. At least that’s what I and most other people thought, but it turns out down South, damaging any property worth more than five hundred dollars is a felony. Brand already replaced the window at a cost of roughly two hundred and fifty dollars, but once you toss the iPhone into the mix, the damage exceeds that threshold.

According to TMZ, it’s still unclear whether prosecutors will actually follow through and take Brand to court, but if they curiously decided to send a message, a criminal damage felony in Louisiana carries a maximum of two years in prison. That would be an absurd amount of time to spend incarcerated for one cell phone throw he already promised to pay back, but stranger things have certainly happened.

When the court officially decides how they will move forward, we’ll make sure and keep you updated. I can’t imagine the producers of the Arthur star's upcoming projects would be pleased about him potentially flying off to clear up a legal issue as foolish as this, but given his popularity, something tells me most people would be willing to work around the schedule.