The troubled 26 year old was pulled over by cops in Santa Monica after he ran through a red light. The authorities discovered heroin and a loaded handgun in the vehicle during a routine search.

O'Neal, the actor's son with the late Farrah Fawcett, was charged on Thursday (04Aug11) with felony heroin possession and illegally possessing a firearm.

Redmond was jailed without bail after his arrest. He will remain in custody until a hearing on 24 August (11). O'Neal has a string of previous drug-related arrests and is currently on probation.

He was behind bars when his mother died in 2009.

Outside court on Thursday, Redmond's dad told reporters, ""He never recovered from the loss of his mother"".

The actor admitted he's desperate for his son to seek professional help again: ""He has a real illness and we're terribly worried for him. He hasn't been in rehab for four, five months and look what happened.""

And his half-sister Tatum O'Neal, who also turned up at court, told People.com, ""He's an addict. Addicts keep using until they want to stop. We're praying for him every day.""