'ED' STAR: DRUG RAP IS BOGUS

August 2, 2002 -- A star of the NBC comedy show "Ed" yesterday denied
smoking crack with a homeless Brooklyn man - and his lawyer said Josh
Randall merely asked the other man for directions and gave him $20 before
police arrested them both.

The lawyer, Kenneth Glassman, also claimed Randall is being singled out
because he's famous.

"I didn't do anything," Randall said after pleading not guilty at his
Brooklyn arraignment on two counts of possession of a controlled substance.

"I didn't do anything illegal. The charges are totally unfounded."

Randall, 30, and the homeless man, Charles Foster, 40, were busted Wednesday
night on the corner of Navy Street and Flushing Avenue near the Navy Yard.

The criminal complaint against Randall says a cop saw the Manhattan resident
with crack cocaine, although the drug was found in Foster's hand.

Cops also found crack residue in a pipe in Foster's possession. Randall told
reporters he had only been "catching a bus."

Glassman later elaborated on that claim.

"Josh . . . was taking a walk in Brooklyn and got lost. When he realized he
had entered an unfamiliar area, he asked a homeless man for directions to
the bus," Glassman said.

"The homeless man asked for money in order to help him. Josh gave him $20 -
at which point he was arrested."

The lawyer said police denied Randall the opportunity to take drug and
polygraph tests that would prove his innocence.

Foster corroborated Randall's story to The Post.

Foster admitted having a crack pipe and having recently smoked the drug. But
he said Randall didn't know any of that.

"I didn't offer, he didn't ask, he didn't smoke. He didn't even know I did,"
Foster said after he was released from jail.

Foster said he and Randall took some shots from a bottle of vodka in
Randall's backpack. He also said Randall gave him $10 instead of $20.

Before his release, a Brooklyn judge sentenced Foster to time served on a
charge of seventh-degree drug possession.

Randall plays Dr. Mike Burton, best friend of lead character Ed Stevens, on
"Ed," whose producers include David Letterman's Worldwide Pants Inc.

Glassman said that because of Randall's celebrity, Brooklyn prosecutors
didn't offer him the usual deal for first-time minor offenders - to drop
charges if they avoid arrest for six months.

But a spokesman for the Brooklyn DA said such offers aren't automatic.