Actress Rose McGowan was arrested on a felony cocaine possession charge in Virginia on Tuesday, authorities said.
McGowan turned herself in at the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office after a warrant was issued Feb. 1 by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department, authorities confirmed. The sheriff’s office told HuffPost that the actress was arrested and booked before being released later Tuesday on a $5,000 unsecured bond.
“The Class 5 felony charge stems from a police investigation of personal belongings that tested positive for narcotics and were left behind on a flight (United 653) arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport on Jan. 20, 2017,” Robert Yingling, public information officer for the MWAA police, told HuffPost.
Police checked the belongings, believed to be McGowan’s, left at Dulles airport on Jan. 20, and they tested positive for narcotics, The Associated Press reported.
McGowan has been a leading voice among the sexual harassment accusations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. The former “Charmed” actress says that the producer raped her and then gave her a $100,000 settlement in 1997.
The actress tweeted about the arrest warrant in October, claiming it was an attempt to silence her.
“Are they trying to silence me?” McGowan’s tweet read. “There is a warrant out for my arrest in Virginia. What a load of HORSESHIT.”
McGowan told the New Yorker Tuesday that she noticed her wallet was missing as she ordered a car service from the airport in January. The actress said she was not using cocaine.
“Imagining I’m going into sisterly solidarity, I can think of nothing more opposed to that, energetically, that I would want in my body at that moment,” McGowan told the New Yorker.
McGowan and her attorney, Jim Hundley, believe that the the drugs were planted and intend on pleading “not guilty” to the charges.
“Depending on when and where the wallet was lost, individuals other than Ms. McGowan had access to the wallet for somewhere between approximately 5 hours 40 minutes and more than 11 hours,” Hundley wrote to the Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman.
McGowan’s representatives did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
This story has been updated to include McGowan and her attorney’s comments.
