Police: Sheen vehicle stolen, crashed in ravine

[February 06, 2010]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A Mercedes that Charlie Sheen reported stolen from his Sherman Oaks home was found overturned hundreds of feet down a nearby cliff early Friday, but there's no evidence anyone was in the car when it went into the ravine, police said.

A Bentley was later found off the same road nearby Friday afternoon, and police said three other cars reportedly were broken into in the same area. Police were investigating if the incidents were linked.

Police got an emergency call around 4 a.m. from an OnStar-style alert system that calls emergency officials when there is a problem with the vehicle that may require assistance, Officer Wendy Reyes said. At about the same time, Sheen called police to say his four-door Mercedes-Benz had been stolen, Officer Bruce Borihanh said.

Police and firefighters found the car 300 to 400 feet down a cliff, upside-down in the brushy ravine. They searched the area on foot and with an infrared-equipped helicopter but found nobody in or around the car, Borihanh said.

"They've looked all around the hillside. There's nobody in the car, nobody around (and no) evidence of anybody being around at the moment of impact," he said.

Sheen was not believed to have been in the car because he would have been badly injured in the accident and "I don't know how he would have gotten back up" the cliff, Borihanh said.

"It's being treated as an auto theft investigation," he said.

The car was later hauled back up the hillside and probably would be impounded while the investigation continues, Officer April Harding said.

The actor's publicist, Stan Rosenfield, confirmed that Sheen's car was reported stolen but said he had no details.

"Charlie is fine, and the police are investigating," he wrote in an e-mail.

Yale Galanter, an attorney for his wife, Brooke Sheen, said he could not comment on the crash because it was under investigation.

Several hours after Sheen's car was discovered, the Bentley was found off the cliff a few blocks away by a photographer, officials said. There was nobody in the car, which apparently was stolen from a neighborhood adjoining Sheen's, said police spokesman Richard French.

Other details remained sketchy.

"We're not sure yet if the Bentley was taken by the same individual or individuals who took the other car. We have very few leads," he said.

French said three other cars reportedly were broken into overnight in the same general area. No arrests were immediately made.

Sheen, 42, the star of the CBS comedy "Two and a Half Men," was arrested after a Christmas Day domestic disturbance at his Aspen home. A police officer's arrest affidavit quoted his wife as saying the actor pinned her on a bed while holding a knife to her throat.

Sheen denies threatening his wife. He's scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Aspen on domestic violence charges. He and his wife also are seeking modification of an order that prevents them from communicating with each other. She has said they love each other and want to reconcile.

Brooke Sheen spent a week in a Los Angeles hospital last month, including several days in intensive care due to an infection and life-threatening pneumonia that developed after oral surgery. Her attorney has said she delayed having oral surgery because of scheduled court hearings in the domestic violence case.

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AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

[Associated Press; By ROBERT JABLON]

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