Thread: Paris Hilton on Drug Bust: I Thought The Cocaine Was Gum

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/08/3...ex.html?hpt=T2

Hilton facing felony drug possession charge after weekend arrest

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Cocaine fell out of Hilton's purse as she was looking for lip balm, police say
* She said the purse wasn't hers, but some items in it were
* Hilton is set to appear in court October 27

(CNN) -- Prosecutors in Clark County, Nevada, filed a felony charge against Paris Hilton on Monday stemming from her arrest over the weekend on suspicion of cocaine possession.

Hilton was charged with possession of a controlled substance. She is set to be arraigned October 27 in Clark County District Court, according to courthouse spokeswoman Jillian Prieto.

The hotel heiress, 29, was arrested late Friday. Police pulled alongside a Cadillac Escalade in which Hilton was a passenger about 11:30 p.m. and smelled "a strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle," according to the arrest report.

When the officer looked over, "the female passenger started to put the window of the vehicle up," the report said. Police told the driver of the Cadillac to pull over, which he did, in front of the Wynn Hotel.

The driver, whom police identified as Cy Waits, 34, was arrested for driving under the influence after he failed field sobriety tests, the report said. Waits is a Las Vegas nightclub mogul and Hilton's rumored boyfriend.

Authorities immediately recognized Hilton as the passenger, the arrest report said, but police did not want to release the vehicle to her following Waits' arrest because of the continuing investigation and also because of the strong odor of marijuana emanating from the SUV.

A large crowd began to gather at the side of the vehicle as people realized Hilton was inside, the report said. The police lieutenant who wrote the report, identified as D. Flynn, said he approached the vehicle and told Hilton she needed to get out, as police were going to search it for drugs.

"Hilton told me that she was extremely embarrassed, due to all the people taking pictures of her, and she did not want to be seen by them," the report said. She said she wanted to stay and see what was going to happen to Waits, but also needed to use the bathroom. She asked Flynn if he would escort her inside the Wynn Hotel to protect her from the crowd "and also asked to go somewhere private and out of the public's eye until the investigation was over."

Flynn wrote that he took Hilton inside, and hotel staffers directed them to the security holding room, which was private and had a nearby restroom. The officer had Hilton place her purse on the table while the two awaited a female officer to accompany her to the restroom.

"While we were waiting for the female officer to arrive, Hilton said she needed to put some lip balm on, and I handed her the purse from the table," the report said. As she opened it, a bundle of what looked like cocaine in a plastic bag fell from the purse, and the lieutenant caught it. The officer put the bundle back insde the purse, waiting for other officers to witness it, he wrote.

When other officers arrived, Flynn wrote that he opened the purse, removed the suspected bundle and read Hilton her Miranda rights. "She told me the purse was not hers, and that she had borrowed it from a friend," the report said. However, Hilton did admit that a broken tablet of Albuterol, also found inside the purse, was hers and was prescribed to her, according to the report. Albuterol is commonly prescribed for diseases such as asthma.

Hilton said several cosmetics inside the purse were not hers, but that $1,300 cash and credit cards in the purse were hers, the report said. She also said a package of Zig Zag papers, "which are commonly used to roll and smoke marijuana," according to the report, were hers.

"I asked Hilton whose cocaine it was, and she said she had not seen it but now thought it was gum," according to the arrest report.

Authorities placed her under arrest and transported her to the Clark County Detention Center, the report said. The substance was tested and confirmed to be 0.8 grams of cocaine.

Hilton was released from jail Saturday morning after authorities determined she was not a flight risk, Lt. Wayne Holman told CNN.

"This matter will be dealt with in the courts, not in the media, and I encourage people not to rush to judgment until all of the facts have been dealt with in a court of law," Hilton's attorney, David Chesnoff, said in a statement Saturday.

Last month, Hilton was briefly detained in South Africa for allegedly smoking marijuana at the World Cup. Her publicist called the July 2 incident "a complete misunderstanding," and the case was dropped.