Drug Charge May Cost Miss R.I. Her Crown
Rhode Island’s entry in last year’s Miss America pageant has been arrested on cocaine and liquor charges and may lose her crown, the state pageant’s president said today.
Pageant President Joseph Trillo said he will call an emergency meeting of pageant officials to deal with Miss Rhode Island.
“We try to maintain a good image and it’s important not to have something like this hurt the image of the Miss America Pageant,” Trillo said.
The state’s reigning Miss Rhode Island, Toni Langello, 20, was charged with one felony count of possession of cocaine Wednesday after lab tests found traces of the drug inside a mirrored compact in her purse.
Langello, her boyfriend, John D’Antonio, 21, and a third person, James Berker, 21, all of Warwick, were arrested Dec. 16, when police stopped their car and confiscated two small bags of cocaine allegedly belonging to D’Antonio.
Langello also was fined $100 in District Court Wednesday after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor liquor charges for drinking beer in the car.
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