In April, police reportedly confiscated a variety of drugs from Penn and his girlfriend during a traffic stop.
Hopper Penn, son of actors Robin Wright and Sean Penn, pleaded no contest regarding an April misdemeanor drug charge, according to USA Today.
In April, the 24-year-old actor was pulled over by police for failure to signal on a Nebraska highway with his girlfriend, Uma Von Wittkamp. Penn and Von Wittkamp were both charged with possession of psilocybin mushrooms, while Penn had an additional charge of marijuana possession and Von Wittkamp was charged with possession of amphetamines, reportedPeople magazine.
In total, police confiscated 14 grams of marijuana, four amphetamine pills, and three grams of psychedelic mushrooms.
Penn and Wittkamp were both released on separate bonds of $25,000.
Originally Penn and Wittkamp were both charged with a felony. In Nebraska, possession of a controlled substance is a felony that is punishable with a maximum of two years in prison, one year of post-release supervision, and a $10,000 fine.
However, the couple pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of attempt of a felony. In addition, they each paid a $1,000 fine. A no contest plea allows a defendant to acknowledge that there might be enough evidence for a conviction without admitting guilt.
In an interview with the Evening Standard, Hopper Penn had described how a traumatic brain injury, surgery, the subsequent loss of his passion for skateboarding, and his parents’ divorce, led to problems at age 16.
“I was doing a lot of stuff,” he says, “but meth was the main one that brought me down. I went to rehab because I woke up in a hospital and my dad was like, ‘Rehab? Or bus bench?’ I was like, ‘I’ll take the bed.’ Thank God I got out of that because that was the worst time in my life. Because it’s not fun when it gets to a point where you just need it.”
Radar Online reported that Sean Penn had bailed his son out of jail with the order that he go to a long-term rehabilitation center.
Radar quoted a source who said of Sean Penn and his son, “He wants him to check into a long-term facility and clean himself up for good, or else. This is the last straw for him and as much as this pains him, Hopper is just lucky he is still alive.”
Hopper Penn isn’t the only one struggling in the family—unfortunately his sister, Dylan Penn, also has issues with addiction. Radar reported that in 2015, Dylan was arrested for DUI and subsequently spent three month in a rehabilitation facility. She is on parole until 2019.
