Rose McGowan Indicted for Cocaine Felony Charge

Photo courtesy of CNN Money.

Summary: Rose McGowan claims that her Virginia drug charge is a frame job from infamous producer Harvey Weinstein.

Actress-turned-activist Rose McGowan has been indicted for one felony count of cocaine possession. According to People, McGowan has denied that the drugs were hers, and she believes that she has been set up by Harvey Weinstein.

In November, McGowan was arrested after she left a wallet at the airport and authorities found residue of cocaine inside of it. McGowan said that the wallet was not in her possession for hours, and she said that she believed Weinstein had targetted her.

Last year, Weinstein was exposed for allegedly sexually harassing and assaulting women for decades. One of those women, McGowan, said that he had raped her in 1997. Since his outing, McGowan has been vocal about Weinstein’s years of unsavory behavior, and she has been an outspoken activist in the #MeToo movement, which has taken down numerous high-profile men accused of misconduct.

McGowan said that because she has been fighting against Weinstein, he must’ve hired someone who planted drugs in her wallet.

McGowan is represented by Jose Baez who told PEOPLE that McGowan is innocent and will fight the felony charge.

“Rose steadfastly maintains her innocence. These charges would have never been brought if it weren’t for her activism as a voice for women everywhere,” Baez said. “I assure you, this selective prosecution will be met with a strong defense.”

On Monday, McGowan was indicted by a grand jury in Loudoun County, Virginia. She was charged with possession of a controlled substance. She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Last year, a warrant was issued for McGowan’s arrest after police found cocaine residue in her wallet which she had forgotten at Washington Dulles International Airport in January of 2017.

McGowan had tweeted about the warrant and called it “horseshit.”

“Are they trying to silence me? There is a warrant out for my arrest in Virginia. What a load of HORSESHIT,” McGowan tweeted.

On January 20, 2017, McGowan had flown to Washington Dulles for the Women’s March, and she had notified the airport that she had lost her wallet.

Weinstein has denied raping McGowan and other women, and he has maintained that any sexual relationships he has had were consensual. He is currently facing criminal rape charges in New York, and his trial is expected to occur later this year.

News that Weinstein had compiled negative information about McGowan had surfaced after the New York Times piece ran last October, and McGowan’s other lawyer said it was likely he was trying to silence his victims.

“There is simply no point in time at which the evidence places Ms. McGowan and the cocaine together in the same place,” McGowan’s attorney Jessica Carmichael said in February. “It is now public knowledge that Weinstein employed underhanded tactics to ‘silence’ his victims.”