KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) — The reigning Miss Tri-Cities will be stripped of her crown after pageant organizers learned she pleaded guilty this year to a misdemeanor theft charge.
The Tri-City Herald says 21-year-old Maeloni Ogle pleaded guilty to stealing more than $250 of clothes from a Macy’s store at a Kennewick mall. She received a deferred sentence.
Miss Tri-Cities executive director, Dot Stewart, learned about the shoplifting incident Friday from the newspaper. She says Ogle will lose her title, $12,000 in scholarship money and other prizes.
Stewart says Ogle is in violation of the contract she signed which asked if she had been convicted or charged with a crime. She signed, leading organizers to believe she had no criminal history.
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Ogle could not be reached for comment Friday.
She was chosen in July to become Miss Tri-Cities 2015 and was to compete in the 2016 Miss Washington competition.
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Information from: Tri-City Herald, http://www.tri-cityherald.com