Rose McGowan Gets Fine For Loudoun County Drug Charge

LEESBURG, VA—Actress and activist Rose McGowan pleaded no contest to a reduced cocaine possession charge Monday morning at the Loudoun County Courthouse. McGowan was indicted last June on one felony count of cocaine possession after a January 2017 incident in which she allegedly had cocaine in her wallet when she disembarked from a United Airlines flight at Dulles International Airport.

Outside the courthouse, she told WTOP radio that, "Once you get tangled in the legal system, it's very hard to get out of it, and sometimes you just take what you can get, and hope for the best. It's caused a lot of stress and I just wanted it to be over. . .however it ended."

McGowan was fined $2,500 for misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance.

McGowan landed at Dulles in January 2017 on a United flight from Los Angeles. When the post-flight cleaning crew found her wallet, it had two small bags filled with what allegedly tested positive as cocaine.

Jessica Carmichael, another of McGowan's attorneys, said there is "no evidence" that McGowan was aware of the cocaine. They suggest that the cocaine may have been planted by an agent of Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced movie producer McGowan accuses of sexually assaulting her.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Rebecca Thacher and Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert prosecuted the case. Thacher has suggested that McGowan would have picked up her wallet from police if she didn't know about the cocaine inside.

"We charged the owner of the wallet. She admitted she lost her wallet. When she was told it was at the police station, she all of a sudden didn't want to pick it up," Thacher said.

The maximum sentence for the original charge is 10 years in prison.

See more:

• Rose McGowan To Plead No Contest To Loudoun Drug Charges: Report

• Rose McGowan To Face Trial For Cocaine Charges: Judge
• Rose McGowan Claims Drugs Were Planted On Her At Dulles Airport
• Harvey Weinstein Indicted On Sex Crime Charges, DA Says

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)

PHOTO: Actress Rose McGowan speaks on stage at The Women's Convention at Cobo Center on October 27, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)