Actor William Levy bailed after Florida arrest for disorderly intoxication and trespass

William Levy, the Cuban-American actor known for his role in the soap opera Café con aroma de mujer, was released on $500 bail Tuesday afternoon after being arrested in Weston, Florida, on Monday night. Levy, 44, was detained by the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the county to which Weston belongs, and charged with two counts. The first, a double count of “disorderly intoxication” and causing a public disturbance. The second, for attempting to trespass on private property.

According to the arrest record, obtained by EL PAÍS, William Gutiérrez-Levy (the actor’s full name) was arrested on April 14 and taken to the county jail. This is evidenced by the prison records, which also include his arrest mugshot. According to initial reports, Levy was involved in an altercation in a restaurant, where he allegedly refused to pay the bill. On Tuesday afternoon, after appearing before a judge together with his lawyer in a brief hearing lasting barely a minute, he was released until a future hearing after posting bail of $250 for each charge. After his appearance before the judge, he is now awaiting trial on both charges.

Apparently, as reported by People en Español, an incident occurred on Monday night at the Baires Grill, an Argentine restaurant in Weston, where Levy was out with friends. He decided to buy a round of drinks, but according to a source close to the actor when the bill arrived “he had paid for a round of drinks for about a hundred people.” Levy confronted the manager of the restaurant and then, according to the publication, a third person came over to mediate and the actor pushed him, which led to him being ejected from the premises.

When he realized he had left his phone on the table, he went back inside to retrieve it and the restaurant called the police, who took him into custody. The performer’s representatives have not responded to media requests. In the state of Florida, the charge for causing a public disturbance through alcohol consumption is usually about 60 days in jail and a $500 fine, according to several lawyers consulted.

After his release, Levy spoke to reporters outside the jail and denied the version of events as reported in the cited media. “I was actually with one of the other team members having a drink as we usually do, and he got into an argument with someone else, and I got in the middle trying to prevent the situation from escalating, and well, I was the one who ended up being handcuffed,” he told the media. “I tried to stay calm all the time. In the end, I was the one who had to leave.”

Despite Levy’s enormous popular appeal three years ago, which led him to occupy the front pages and become a fixture at parties and advertising campaigns, he has not been seen on screens for months. His most important project, in 2023, was the ambitious miniseries Montecristo, in which he played the title role. However, the show was not as successful as expected and he returned to daytime soaps: between 2023 and 2024 he appeared in almost 100 episodes of the Mexican soap opera Vuelve a mí. In addition, he has three projects pending release.

After spending a hard and hungry childhood in Cuba, as he himself has recounted on more than one occasion, Levy left for the United States when he was around 15 years old, and unable to speak English. Raised by his mother and stepfather, who were behind his decision to emigrate, he was good at sports as a child, especially baseball, which led him to earn a scholarship at St. Thomas University.

His physical bearing opened a path to be a model, and he then participated in reality shows such as the Latin version of Temptation Island on Telemundo, or Protagonistas de novela, where he met his future wife, actress Elizabeth Gutiérrez. He later made the leap to theater and television. In addition to soaps, he had minor roles in the Resident Evil saga. In May 2024 it was announced he and Gutiérrez were divorcing after a 20-year relationship that produced two children, Christopher, 19, and Kailey, 15.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition