Here is the latest on troubled actress Amelia "Amy" Jacobs from Mae Moo, who writes on the celebrity scene for the Bangkok Post each Sunday
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Amy goes to prison
MAE MOO
Actress Amelia "Amy" Jacobs is in a Min Buri prison as the police case against her for selling illegal drugs deepens.
Min Buri District Court jailed Amy, 28, last Thursday as police build their case against her and boyfriend Punyawat Hirantecha, 40. They have charged the pair with possession of illicit drugs with intent to sell. Her first period of detention, before police present their case to prosecutors, runs until Oct 2.
Her mother and father visited her at Sai Mai station, and then later at the prison, where they discussed bail arrangements with the actress, amid reports they have to find 5 million baht to secure her temporary release. Friends of the family said Amy was stressed as she contemplated her fate while pining for the cat she raises.
The 2006 Miss Teen Thailand winner and her boyfriend were arrested in Sai Mai district last Tuesday after police found them with 17 grammes of methamphetamine, 16 ecstasy pills and drug-taking paraphernalia including weighing scales.
The raid on Amy's house follows the earlier arrest of a man identified only as "Nat" who police say was caught in Lat Phrao district with the drug ice and implicated Mr Punyawat as his supplier.
Reports say police tracked Mr Punyawat to a Samrong pub where he acts as marketing manager, where they allegedly found him in possession of drugs.
He told police he had moved into his girlfriend's house. Police arrested him and Amy there. Later at the police station, a dishevelled, thin-looking Amy apologised to society for messing with drugs, and insisted she was a user only, not a dealer.
On Thursday, a tearful Amy was transported in a police van from Sai Mai district to Min Buri. Mr Punyawat, who accompanied her, told police the drugs found at Amy's house belonged to a friend, and he was merely looking after them.
Police say a subsequent arrest puts his claims in doubt. As the probe expanded further, police arrested Natcha "Punch" Jampasang, 34, for possession of 14 bottles of ketamine, 8g of ice and two ecstasy pills.
She told police she sells goods online and had known Mr Punyawat for about a year. She claimed the pair were suppliers who obtained their drugs from a big-time agent who is also a friend of Mr Punyawat's.
"We are at the same level in the dealing chain and borrow from each other if we run out," she allegedly told police.
Mr Punyawat told police his friend Nat, whose arrest in Lat Phrao sparked the probe, had asked him for drugs for his own use but then tried to sell them, resulting in his arrest. The "buyer" was an undercover policeman. "While I was in custody, Punch sent me a Line message asking for some drugs. The police laid a trap and caught her,'' he said.
Mr Punyawat added that if he has to serve time in prison with his friend he is likely to be killed or harmed, as his friend has enemies in there.
Amy, who earned her fame as star of the popular Channel 7 drama Thida Wanorn (Monkey Daughter), appeared last year in the Channel 3 series The Cupids. Her career was in tatters a mere 24 hours after the arrest saga broke, with her boss at Broadcast Thai Television, Arunocha "Nong" Panupan, abruptly ending her contract, which still had a year to run.
