Theodora Richards was released without bail after her arraignment. She didn't enter a plea and didn't speak to reporters as she left the courtroom.
According to the criminal complaint, officers noticed the 25-year-old model drawing a small "T (heart) A" in red ink on the side of a building that houses a convent in the swanky Soho section of Manhattan on Tuesday night.
She told an officer, "I hope I don't get in trouble for this," police said.
Police said they found a small amount of marijuana, 8 ½ hydrocodone pills and a paint marker on Richards.
She said she did not have a prescription for the hydrocodone, a narcotic pain reliever, police said.
She is due back in court April 21.
Richards' attorney, Stacey Richman, would say only that Richards is "a polite, lovely woman."
Richards modeled for Burberry and Tommy Hilfiger and lives in Soho. She and her sister, Alexandra, are the daughters of Keith Richards and his longtime wife Patti Hansen. The leathered, craggy guitarist has two other children.
One of the best-known rockers alive, Keith Richards has a best-selling memoir "Life" about his hard-living days with the Rolling Stones and frontman Mick Jagger.
