By Jim Hannah
Enquirer staff writer

FLORENCE - Indie film star Edward Furlong has found a new role - lobster liberator.

Furlong, a vegetarian and animal rights activist, was charged with alcohol intoxication Wednesday night after police said he was caught taking lobsters out of a fish tank of a Meijer store on Houston Road.

"Mr. Furlong and his friends would not stop taking the lobsters out of the tank," said Florence Police Lt. John McDermond. "They were causing a scene at Meijer."

Police didn't take the names of Furlong's friends, but the 27-year-old is in town with Rachael Bella (The Ring) and James Eckhouse (A Cinderella Story).

When police told him to turn around to be frisked, Furlong "began to turn around in circles," a police report says.

The actor, who checked into an alcohol rehabilitation center in 2000, was quickly hauled off to the Boone County jail. He spent about 45 minutes behind bars until Burlington resident Robin Schroder paid $29 in court costs to free him. A condition of his release was not to "commit further offences" in Kentucky.

"He was a model inmate," said Jailer Ed Prindle. "I doubt he was ever assigned a cell. By the time we booked him, his paperwork for his release would have been ready."

Furlong must still pay a $171.50 fine or face an Oct. 1 court appearance at the Boone County Justice Center.

Furlong, who told police his address was 9000 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood, is in Northern Kentucky for the next two weeks to shoot a independent film called Jimmy and Judy, a gritty tragedy about two teens on the run. Shooting locations include Burlington, Villa Hills, Florence and Gallatin County.

In an interview with an Enquirer reporter just hours before his arrest, Furlong and Bella said their hotels are near Meijer, and they said they liked to go over there after work and explore - they have nothing like a Meijer in L.A., Bella said.

"We run up and down the aisles," Furlong said.

Furlong couldn't be reached for comment after his arrest.

E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com

Tempo writer Margaret McGurk contributed to this story