New York City police arrested a CNN anchor in the wee hours of Friday for possession of banned substances, according to authorities. The police stopped Richard Quest, an anchor and business travel specialist at CNN, in Central Park for violating the park curfew. The officer who stopped him then discovered a bag of methamphetamines in Quest’s pocket, and arrested him.

The criminal complaint lodged said the police arrested Quest at around 3:40 a.m. from Central Park, near 64th Street and West Drive. That itself was illegal, as the park is closed from 1:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. The police initially stopped him because he was loitering there at an illegal hour.

The officer who stopped Quest also searched him, as per standard procedure. It was during the search that he found the zip lock bag in Quest’s pocket, according to the complaint. Quest then confirmed the bag contained methamphetamine. “I’ve got some meth in my pocket,” the complaint quoted him as saying.

The police slapped two charges on Quest during his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court. The first was a misdemeanor charge for possession of methamphetamine and the second charge was for loitering.

Quest, however, has managed to work out a deal with the Manhattan DA’s office. According to the deal, Quest would get counseling for a six-month period, at the end of which the judge would drop the charges if he felt the counseling had worked.

During the arraignment proceedings Friday, Judge Anthony J. Ferrera told Quest he was willing to dismiss the case if he could show, when he came back to the court in October, that there had been sufficient improvement in his condition and that the counseling he had agreed to receive for the six-month period had been effective. He also said Quest would not face any restrictive measures in terms of traveling.

Quest, 46, was in police custody for approximately 12 hours, and looked tired as he left the court. He was wearing the same dress that he was in at the time of his arrest – blue jeans, sneakers, and a zippered navy blue jacket, and refused to make any comment when leaving.

Speaking on his behalf, Quest’s attorney, Alan Abramson, said, “Mr. Quest did not realize that the park had a curfew, and was returning to his hotel with friends.” There has been no comment from CNN so far on the matter either.

Quest is British and is part of CNN’s late night international programming. He has his own show on the channel, Quest, a one-hour feature program. His biography at the CNN website says he has reported on topics such as the Iraq war and has also covered the World Economic Forum that is held in Davos, Switzerland, annually.