Police in Florida are on the lookout for Bam Margera after the Jackass star vanished from the rehab facility where he'd been staying. As Margera's rehab stay is court-mandated, he is not permitted to leave the facility without permission, but Margera reportedly left the building around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and hasn't been seen since. Per TMZ, Broward County detectives are asking anyone with information on Margera's whereabouts to reach out with tips.
This is the second incident in two weeks where Margera has left the facility. On June 13, Margera similarly fed the buiding after allegedly telling the manager he was planning to check into another rehab center. He was missing for days before cops located Margera at a Delray Beach hotel, at which point he was cooperative and returned to the facility without incident. At that time, Margera had been off his medication and there were concerns that he had relapsed. Reportedly, Margera was unhappy over not receiving special treatment at the center and was also feeling emotional over a recent split with his wife.
Margera's team is hoping the Viva La Bam star can be found quickly, as without being monitored, the concerns of a relapse have returned. In May, Margera revealed that he had completed a one-year drug and alcohol treatment program. His close friend, Brandon Novak, also told TMZ that Margera had shown tremendous improvement and was closer than ever to being back to the Bam he knew from the years before his substance abuse issues spiraled.
Bam Margera's Problems Have Been Public Knowledge
In September, it was reported that Bam Margera had been acting belligerently in a hotel bar, prompting local police to investigate. They discovered that there was a court order for Margera to be taken to rehab, at which point the officers took in the Jackass daredevil. It wasn't clear who had requested the court order for Bam to be put into rehab.
"They received a call that something was going wrong there," police said of the incident in a statement. "When deputies arrived, they were informed that Mr. Margera had an ex parte order, which is a judge's order for court-ordered rehabilitation. Those are taken out by a third party on behalf of the person."
This followed a public firing from the film Jackass Forever. At one point, Margera was supposed to be in the film, but his involvement included a mandatory "wellness agreement" that he had to sign. Margera was allegedly fired for failing to stay clean during the production of the film. He later sued the filmmakers, arguing he'd been taken advantage of. That lawsuit has since been settled, but during the controversy, Steve-O had told Margera that the Jackass team had only been trying to help him.
"Bam, the two people you're saying wronged you [Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine] are the same two people who organized the intervention which saved my life," Steve-O said in an Instagram comment on Margera's account. "Everyone bent over backwards to get you in the movie, and all you had to do was not get loaded. You've continued to get loaded, it's that simple. We all love you every bit as much as we all say we do, but nobody who really loves you can enable or encourage you to stay sick."