Costa Rican beauty queen held in Internet drug case

A former Costa Rican beauty contestant pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges that she was part of a conspiracy to illegally sell tens of millions of dollars in prescription drugs over the Internet.

Sonia Barrantes Molina, 32, was arraigned before a magistrate-judge in federal court in Brooklyn. Barrantes Molina was arrested in Florida while trying to find out the status of her boyfriend, who has also been arrested, said her attorney, Humberto Dominguez of Florida.

Barrantes Molina was named Miss Hawaiian Tropic in Costa Rica a few years ago and participated in the brand’s advertising campaign, one investigator said.

The original indictment accuses Barrantes Molina and seven other defendants of being part of an Internet operation that grossed $1 million a month for more than two years in a scheme to sell painkillers, sedatives and diet drugs.

The indictment alleges that the group used a doctor in Puerto Rico to write prescriptions, which then were forwarded to U.S.-based pharmacies that sent the drugs to customers around the country.