Rose McGowan Indicted On Cocaine Possession Charges In Virginia, Will Face Trial

Actress and activist Rose McGowan will face trial on felony cocaine possession charges.

A Loudon County, Virginia grand jury has indicted McGowan and a date for her trial will be set Tuesday, according to WTOP 103.5 in Washington, D.C. 

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The indictment alleges that cocaine was found in a wallet McGowan left behind on a plane in January 2017 after she flew into Dulles International Airport in Washington. The wallet was found by a cleaning crew about five hours after McGowan deplaned, according to the Associated Press.

After McGowan’s wallet went missing but before the charges against her were made public, someone sent McGowan a direct message on Instagram that said: “You left your wallet on your Saturday flight with your 2 bags of coke,” the Associated Press reported.

McGowan’s lawyer, Jim Hundley, was on vacation and could not be reached for comment Tuesday. A message emailed to his partner on the case seeking comment was not returned.

McGowan has maintained her innocence, and suggested in court papers that the drugs were planted by people working for disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein, who McGowan has accused of raping her in 1997 at the Sundance Film festival.

After surrending to police for a warrant in November 2017, she tweeted, "Are they trying to silence me? There is a warrant out for my arrest in Virginia. What a load of HORSES---."

McGowan posted three tweets in October 2016 accusing a “studio head” of rape, accompanied by the hashtag #WhyWomenDontReport. 

After McGowan’s tweets, Weinstein hired several private security agencies, one operated by veterans of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, to block women from reporting that he allegedly sexually assaulted or harassed them, according to the New Yorker.

[Photo: Loudon County Sheriff's Office]