Las Vegas: Paris Hilton was arrested on Friday for possession of cocaine and marijuana.
The celebrity socialite was taken into custody in Las Vega after a police officer on a motorcycle smelt marijuana smoke wafting from the car driven by her boyfriend, and on closer inspection found cocaine in her purse.
Whether or not the drugs belonged to Hilton is in question. TMZ.com is reporting that sources close to her say the bag containing the cocaine wasn’t hers. She was at a club prior to the arrest where she says a mix-up occurred.
A crowd gathered when Hilton and Las Vegas nightclub mogul Cy Waits were stopped shortly before midnight in a black Cadillac Escalade, near the Wynn Las Vegas resort. The 29-year-old celebrity was taken inside the hotel during the initial investigation, policeman Wayne Holman said.
Police officer Marcus Martin told how the motorcycle officer pulled the car over on Las Vegas Boulevard after noticing smoke that smelt like marijuana. Police later found a substance in Hilton's purse that tests showed to be cocaine. It’s not known how much of the drug was found.
Hilton was arrested on suspicion of felony cocaine possession, while Waits, 34, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Both were booked into the Clark County jail, where Hilton was released without bail at approximately 2.45am on Saturday.
Less than an hour later, her Twitter account was updated with a posting which read that she was in bed watching the television show Family Guy, and that she was going to sleep. It was unclear if the tweets came from her, were posted by time-release or were sent by someone else.
If convicted of the low-grade felony, Hilton will get probation and any violation of probation is punishable by one to four years in Nevada state prison.
Hilton's attorney, David Chesnoff, said on Saturday that he was still gathering facts about case. "I caution people not to rush to judgment," he said.
Waits' lawyer, Richard Schonfeld, said Waits posted $2,000 (Dh7, 345.20) bail and was expected to be released on Saturday. Schonfeld said he was "troubled by the circumstances" leading to the arrest, but declined to specify his concerns. "As the case proceeds, a lot of facts are going to come to light that will ultimately lead to exoneration," he said.
Neither Hilton’s manager nor her publicist has chosen to comment on the matter so far.
Waits and his twin brother, Jesse, are managing partners of the Tryst Nightclub in Wynn Las Vegas, Drai's after hours club at Bill's Gamblin' Hall and Saloon, and the XS The Nightclub at Wynn's Encore resort.
Hilton hit the headlines only last week when a 31-year-old man allegedly tried to break into her Los Angeles home. Authorities told how someone carrying two large knives banged on her window on Tuesday. She posted a photo of the arrest on Twitter and described it as "scary”. A man by the name of Nathan Lee Parada now faces a felony burglary charge.
Hilton was also arrested this summer after the Brazil-Netherlands World Cup match in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on suspicion of possession of marijuana, but the case was dropped.
The socialite pleaded no contest in 2007 to alcohol-related reckless driving and was sentenced to 45 days in jail. After being imprisoned for 23 days, Hilton told CNN host Larry King that the experience caused her to re-evaluate the role partying played in her life. She said she wanted, "to help raise money for kids and for breast cancer and multiple sclerosis."
