Miss Corpus Christi Latina: Caitlin Cifuentes stripped of crown after criminal record emerges
A RECENT beauty pageant winner is getting lots of attention, but for all the wrong reasons. Her personal history has led to her crown being stripped off her.
A RECENT beauty pageant winner is getting lots of attention, but for all the wrong reasons.
Caitlin Cifuentes, the first-ever Miss Corpus Christi Latina, was stripped of her crown after it was discovered she has a criminal record.
Caitlin is currently under “deferred adjudicated probation” (meaning she pleaded “guilty” or “no contest” to the charges) for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and driving while intoxicated, according to USA Today. If she successfully completes the terms of her probation, she’ll avoid an official conviction.
It’s due to the nature of her plea, and its pending status that local pageant director Kayla Alvarez decided to let Caitlin take part in the June 11 competition. However, even those with pending charges are not allowed to compete and Ms Alvarez is now being sued by six other pageant contestants for violating pageant terms.
Still, Ms Alvarez is standing by her decision for the pageant in the Texas city. “Just because you have a bad background ... doesn’t mean that should hold you back from accomplishing your goals,” Ms Alvarez said to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. “She’s worked very hard and the judges saw that, and she won fair and square.”
Acirema Alayeto, the founder and president of the Organisation of Miss America Latina, Inc., says that Caitlin should’ve been taken out of the running weeks ago, especially given that she isn’t allowed to leave the county to further compete without explicit permission as part of her probation.
“She pleaded guilty so I don’t understand why there’s such confusion on the part of the city director on that part,” Ms Alayeto told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
Moving forward, the lawsuit against Ms Alvarez is still pending, and runner-up Valeria Barrera has been crowned the new Miss Corpus Christi Latina.