Philip Seymour Hoffman arrives for the Los Angeles premiere of "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" at the Nokia Theatre LA Live in Los Angeles, California, November 18, 2013
A New York judge set a $200,000 bond Friday for a musician arrested during investigation into actor Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death. Robert Vineberg was allegedly found with about 300 packets of heroin in his apartment and is accused of being Hoffman’s drug dealer, the Associated Press reports.
Vineberg is charged with drug possession and the intent to sell after police followed a lead in the probe into Hoffman’s death of an apparent heroin overdose on Feb. 2. Vineberg’s lawyer said Friday during the bail hearing that the packets found in Vineberg’s apartment were mostly intended for Vineberg’s own use. His lawyer said the 52-year-old has a 10-bag-a-day heroin addiction.
But Vineberg maintained he was sober during an interview with the New York Post on Saturday. He also said that he and Hoffman were friends and had texted in December. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin said Friday that Vineberg was being inconsistent in his story. “He claims he is clean, you claim he is in the throes of a decade or more long addiction,” McLaughlin told defense lawyer Ed Kratt, according to the New York Post. “Some of the statements made on Mr. Vineberg’s behalf are inconsistent.”
[AP]