Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Strip performer Pia Zadora must undergo alcohol and anger counseling or face jail time in domestic abuse case

Goodman Roasted at Stratosphere

Steve Marcus

Pia Zadora speaks during “The Showbiz Roast” of former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman at the Stratosphere Theater Tuesday, July 23, 2013. Fifty percent of the show proceeds benefited Miracle League of Las Vegas.

Pia Zadora was arrested June 1, 2013.

Pia Zadora was arrested June 1, 2013.

Broadway actress and Strip performer Pia Zadora will have to learn how to control her impulses and have her alcohol use evaluated before authorities dismiss a domestic violence case against her.

In a hearing this morning, Las Vegas Township Judge Melanie Tobiasson ordered Zadora to stay out of trouble for a year, attend impulse control counseling and follow recommendations of the alcohol evaluation. If Zadora doesn’t fully comply, Tobiasson said, the actress will be sent to jail for 30 days.

Zadora, who did not attend this morning’s hearing, is charged with domestic abuse and coercion stemming from a May 31 incident at her Summerlin home involving her 16-year-old, who didn’t want to go to bed.

Metro Police said Zadora, the wife of a Metro officer, sprayed her son with a garden hose, grabbed him around the neck and scratched him during the confrontation.

According to Metro’s arrest report:

Zadora, 61, had been drinking with her husband and his adult son at their home. Zadora asked her own teenage son to go to bed. He refused, and a confrontation ensued that eventually led to the teenager calling the police.

Zadora, and the other adults in the house, then refused to answer the door or cooperate with police when they first arrived, leading to response from the Metro SWAT unit.

The initial confrontation started around 11 p.m. May 31.

When her son protested, Zadora turned on the hose, spraying her son, her husband, off-duty Metro Police officer Michael Jeffries, and her husband’s son, Michael Jeffries Jr.

The teenager told police later he argued about being able to stay up, but Zadora said she was tired, she wanted her son to go to bed, and she wanted Jeffries Jr., 32 to go home. Jeffries Sr., 54, tried to calm Zadora, according to the report, but she lashed out and scratched him on the face. The teenager also told police that Zadora punched and scratched Jeffries Jr.

Hours later, before dawn June 1, the teenager called 911. It is unclear from the police report what precipitated the emergency call, which came at least four hours after the initial altercation. The teen told police Zadora saw him and wrestled with him for the phone, at one point grabbing him around the neck from behind and scratching his left ear.

He further said that when officers arrived, Jeffries Sr. blocked him from answering the door, and his mother and stepbrother also stopped him from responding to the police. He then went to his room.

The first officer arrived at the couple’s home around 3:45 a.m. The officer reported hearing voices inside, but no one responded when he rang the doorbell and announced himself. More officers arrived, surrounded the house and entered through an unlocked rear door. The officers heard male and female voices and issued a command for them to “come out with your hands up.”

At first a female responded, “We are back here, be out in a minute,” but after a second order to come out a male responded, “What are you doing in my house?” and followed by, “come back here and get me.”

SWAT officers then took over. Zadora told police she said she would come out, but then the police disappeared. She told police that Jeffries Sr. said he would take care of it, and she went to sleep. She then woke up a couple hours later and realized her electricity was off. She called 911, and they told her to go outside, according to the report.

The police interviewed Zadora, who admitted to drinking alcohol and confirmed the cause of the initial confrontation. Zadora said she was upset by her son’s defiance and may have scratched her husband when he tried to wrestle the hose away from her. She also admitted to trying to take the phone from her son when he called 911, because, she told police, he was unnecessarily bothering the authorities and avoiding going to bed.

While details of interviews with Zadora and her son were released in the Metro Police report, no information was released on interviews, if any, with Jeffries Sr. or Jeffries Jr.

Zadora, who posted $4,000 for bail today, was a child actress on Broadway and starred in the 1982 film “Butterfly” for which she won a Golden Globe Award.

Tobiasson scheduled a status check on the case for Oct. 10.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy