NEW YORK - Turns out it was a nicotine jones that led to Shia LaBeouf's arrest in Chicago.

The 21-year-old actor, who stars opposite Harrison Ford in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," told the story of his infamous Walgreen's arrest during his appearance on Monday night's "Late Show."

LaBeouf told David Letterman he got "pretty wasted" before his stint in "the drunk tank" last November for refusing to leave a Walgreen's store in Chicago.

His story: He had a hankering for cigarettes - and was preoccupied by pimple on his forehead.

"So I go to Walgreen's and I go to the cosmetic aisle," LaBeouf recalled, "and I see the security guard and he's looking at me, four in the morning, pretty disheveled, pretty messed up on the special magic sauce. And I get the pimple cream, and he's looking at me, he's kinda giggling to himself, and now I'm starting to feel like, 'What? It's really not that funny, guy, you know?'"

A bashful LaBeouf went back to his hotel and realized he'd forgotten to buy the smokes. The actor says he returned to Walgreen's wearing different clothes: "I'm going, 'Well, now the guy saw me, now what am I gonna do?' So I do an outfit change."

LaBeouf said the security guard noticed and said, "Hey, nice outfit," to which he retorted: "Yeah, nice outfit to you, too."

LaBeouf said he accidentally backed into the candy aisle, but tried to play it off like he did it on purpose. "So I grabbed these gummy bears, and I'm like, 'yeah, THESE,'" he recalled.

He said he purchased the sweets - and, once again, left without buying cigarettes. So he threw on a hooded sweatshirt and returned to the store a third time.

"I go back down, I got the hoodie on, he goes, 'Really? Really? Really?' And I'm like, 'Yeah, really!' He goes, 'Well, what are you doing here?' And I'm like, 'Well buddy, it's your worst nightmare,'" LaBeouf said.

He said at that point, another security guard put him in plastic handcuffs and took him to the ground, said LaBeouf, calling himself a "moron."

LaBeouf was charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing; the next day, Labeouf's smiling mug shot splashed across Internet.

"It was a photo shoot, (the officer's) like, 'Let me take like 14 mug shots,'" LaBeouf said.

Prosecutors later dropped charges because Walgreen Co. and a security company indicated they didn't want to continue the case.

What did LaBeouf learn from the ordeal?

"Drinking and driving is one thing, but drinking and shopping ... it's just as bad," he said.

LaBeouf was separately cited in February for smoking where he shouldn't in Burbank, Calif., but a judge later dismissed the charge.