A court in South Africa has dropped a marijuana case against Paris Hilton. The socialite appeared late Friday in a FIFA World Cup courtroom after being arrested on suspicion of possession of the drug at a quarter-final match between Brazil and the Netherlands.
The authorities dropped the charges against Hilton, after her co-accused, Jennifer Rovero, "acknowledged to be in possession of cannabis, and pleaded guilty," said a spokeswoman for South African police.
Rovero, 31, a model and actress from New York, was sentenced to a fine of 1,000 rand (130 US Dollars) or 30 days imprisonment. A publicist for Hilton said the incident was a "misunderstanding."
"Paris Hilton was questioned today by police in South Africa on allegations of smoking marijuana," a publicist for Hilton, Dawn Miller, said in a statement.
"However I can confirm that the incident was a complete misunderstanding and it was actually another person in the group who did it," the statement said.
"The case has been dropped against Paris and no charges will be made." Hilton wrote on her Twitter web page later:
"Hey guys, there's a lot of crazy rumours going around. Just want you all to know the truth. Everything is completely fine. I was not charged or arrested, cause I didn't do anything."
She said she had been helping police with their investigation. Hilton and Rovero were believed to have left court without speaking to reporters after a white van left the building with two of the passengers covering themselves to hide their identities.
Hilton was detained in Port Elizabeth earlier on Friday, on suspicion of possessing marijuana, two South African police officers said on condition of anonymity earlier in the day.
The officers spoke on condition of anonymity, since they were not authorised to release Hilton's name before she appeared in court. A local radio station in Johannesburg said Hilton was detained outside the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium, following the quarter-final match between Brazil and Netherlands.
Hilton pleaded no contest in 2007 to alcohol-related reckless driving and was sentenced to 45 days in jail. After spending about 23 days in jail, Hilton told Larry King that the experience caused her to re-evaluate the role partying played in her life. AP
