Rose McGowan arrested on drug charges, released on bond

Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Rose McGowan was arrested in Virginia Tuesday for felony possession of a controlled substance after she turned herself in to authorities.

The actress was released on a $5,000 unsecured bond, Deadline reported.

A warrant for McGowan's arrest was issued in January after airport police at the Washington Dulles International Airport found trace amounts of narcotics in her wallet.

"Are they trying to silence me? There is a warrant out for my arrest in Virginia. What a load of [expletive]," McGowan tweeted in October in response to the warrant.

The resurfacing of the charge comes as McGowan has been at the center of the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal as the 44-year-old was among the several woman who have said the producer sexually assaulted them. She has since used Twitter to slam Weinstein and others in Hollywood accused of sexual misconduct.

McGowan discussed the warrant and her arrest with The New Yorker, saying she originally did not turn herself in over fear of being followed and set up by private investigators hired by Weinstein.

"I was going to asap," she said of turning herself in. "But then things started to get really weird. I knew I was being followed and that I wasn't safe. I even hired a private investigator to investigate whether the warrant was real."

McGowan with her attorney Jim Hundley will be fighting the drug charges arguing that the controlled substance could have been planted.

"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 is asking for the charges to be dismissed.

McGowan will be arraigned on Thursday and she will plead not guilty.