Robert Holley, a naturalized Korean and lawyer-turned TV personality, has been arrested of using methamphetamine, putting a smudge on his squeaky-clean and homely image.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency’s Cyber Crime Team on Monday arrested Holley at a parking lot in Seoul on charges of buying the drug online for personal use.

The police said they found evidence of Holley transferring money to an account of a drug dealer late last month. The amount of meth purchased has not been confirmed but the police believe he used the illegal substance alone at his home.

Holley admitted to the charges, apologizing to the public in front of reporters. The police plan to detain him for further questioning Tuesday before determining whether to seek an arrest warrant.

Holley is a 58-year-old native of California who has worked as an international lawyer in South Korea since 1986. He shot to fame once he began appearing in talk shows speaking perfect Korean in the Busan dialect.

Holley, who goes by the Korean name Ha Il, married a Korean woman and relinquished his U.S. citizenship to become a naturalized Korean in 1997.

By Ji Hong-goo and Kim Hyo-jin

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