Rock lead singer pleads innocent to possession

Scott Weiland, lead singer of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots,

pleaded innocent Monday to felony charges of possessing heroin and

cocaine.

Weiland, a Los Angeles resident who has been free on bail since

his arrest last month, is due back in the Burbank Superior Court on

July 11, when a date for his preliminary hearing is scheduled to be

announced.

Burbank Police stopped the 35-year-old singer just before midnight

May 17 in the 100 block of Elm Court because the BMW he was riding in

did not have its lights on. Officers searched the car and found a

syringe and drugs, police and district attorney’s officials said.

The band’s frontman has dealt with drug problems in the past. He

served jail time in 1999 after repeatedly violating his probation and

failing to complete stints of rehabilitation following drug-related

arrests.

Jackson Bell