EXCLUSIVE: Cops Gave Purse Back To Paris; Photo Could Help Prosecution
May 28 2018, Updated 10:19 a.m. ET
Paris Hilton’s Chanel purse has become a controversial and possibly crucial item in her felony cocaine possession arrest, but Breaking Celebrity News has discovered that police gave it back to her instead of booking it into evidence.
The hotel heiress claims the purse in which cops found cocaine did not belong to her, and that she had borrowed it.
But on Thursday, Breaking Celebrity News broke the exclusive story that on July 15 Paris Tweeted a photo of a purse that appears identical to the one she claimed she borrowed.
In the official police report one investigating officer states, in part, “She told me the purse was not hers.” It contained .8 grams of cocaine.
DOCUMENT: Read The Criminal Complaint Against Paris
Keeping the purse as evidence and matching it to the photo of the purse Paris Tweeted about would appear to give police and prosecutors strong circumstantial evidence against Paris.
But a spokesperson for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told Breaking Celebrity News, “We can care less about the purse. It was not booked into evidence. We gave the purse back and took the cocaine."
One top Las Vegas lawyer told Breaking Celebrity News that what police did is not unusual, but the photo could still play a big role against Paris.
“It isn’t unusual for the police to only take the drugs as evidence, not anything else,” Alex De Castroverde, a top criminal defense attorney in Las Vegas told Breaking Celebrity News. “They don’t need the purse because they have the drugs.”
But the lawyer added that the photo of the purse creates problems for Paris.