Paris Hilton Pleads Guilty in Cocaine Case, Avoids Felony Rap
Avoiding a potential felony conviction, Paris Hilton has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors concerning an incident last month at a Las Vegas casino-hotel.
Pulled aside by police after her boyfriend, nightclub mogul Cy Waits, 34, failed field sobriety tests, the 29-year-old hotel heiress, as she now admits, dropped a small plastic bag of cocaine in front of a police lieutenant as she reached into her Chanel purse for a tube of lip balm, reports the Associated Press.
She pleaded guilty today to drug possession and, because she initially lied and said the purse wasn’t hers, obstructing an officer in the Clark County case.
Hilton, who would not have faced jail time even if she had been convicted of the felony, must pay a $2,000 fine, perform 200 hours of community service and complete a year of unsupervised probation. If she violates her probation by committing any crime other than a minor traffic infraction she could be sentenced to up to a year in jail.
“The purpose of this at this point is that you change your conduct,” Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure told Hilton. “I assure you the Clark County Detention Center is not the Waldorf Astoria.”
Attorney David Chesnoff represented Hilton.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Paris Hilton Coke Charge Could Be Tough to Prove, Expert Says”
