DOWNEY VISITED REPUTED DRUG DEALER

Badboy actor Robert Downey Jr. was visiting a suspected cocaine
pusher at a seedy California motel when cops busted him early Monday
on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs, the Daily News has
learned.

When police stopped Downey at 12:15 a.m. Monday, the Oscar-nominated
film star led them to a $45-a-night Culver City motel room, where they
found reputed drug dealer Albert Aleixo.

Culver City police Lt. Dave Tankenson said Downey had dilated pupils
and was speaking hyperactively when he told cops he was trying to help
Aleixo cope with a drug problem.

Aleixo, 45, of Marina Del Rey, Calif., also was arrested for suspicion
of being under the influence of drugs. But police found no drugs on
him or Downey. A search of Aleixo's room at the Baldwin Motel also
turned up empty. Drug test results from urine samples taken from both
won't be known for a week.

Downey, 36, who won a Golden Globe Award in January for his role as a
lover-boy lawyer on the TV show "Ally McBeal," checked himself into a
detox center after being released to his probation officer. He is to
appear in court May 15 to answer to the misdemeanor charge.

"Ally McBeal" executive producer David Kelley immediately fired
Downey, writing him out of the show's three remaining episodes to be
filmed.

It was the fourth drug-related arrest for Downey since 1996, and the
second in six months. An article in the upcoming issue of People
magazine claims Downey's latest tailspin began when his wife, Deborah
Falconer, who has filed for divorce, informed the actor she was moving
to New York and taking their child, Indio, with her.