Oscar-winning actress Tatum O’Neal was arrested last night in New York City, after she was caught buying crack cocaine in the neighborhood of her home on the Lower East Side.

A New York City Police spokesman Det. Martin Speechley confirmed to PEOPLE the actress was seen making the illicit transaction at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday on Clinton Street. She was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Allan Garcia, 32, who was providing O’Neal with the substance, was also charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance, which is a class B felony.

When the police approached her, O’Neal hoped she would get away with it just because she was famous, and asked them if they knew who she was, the New York Post reported. Then she argued she was actually doing a research for a part as a junkie. Unfortunately for her, and not at all surprisingly, none of the excuses worked.

The daughter of Ryan O’Neal, who starred in the cable television series "Rescue Me" and won Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in 1973's "Paper Moon" at the age of 10, wrote about her struggles with heroin addiction in a 2004 memoir.

Now she is 44 years old and a mom of three, but it seems she still can't escape her demons. Her entire career was badly influenced by physical and emotional abuse, depression and drug addiction. Her mother, actress Joanna Moore, was an alcoholic and an amphetamines addict.

In 1986, after O’Neal was sober for a period of time, she married tennis player John McEnroe, the father of her three children. But after they divorced in 1992, she resumed taking drugs.

It is not yet known whether the actress has an attorney, but she is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.