MIAMI — A former Miss America competitor and Florida city commissioner has pleaded guilty to a handful of federal charges for her attempts in 2021 to visit her romantic partner in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said Thursday that 36-year-old Julianna Clare Strout has been sentenced to 50 hours of community service and a year of probation for pretending to be a paralegal.
North Bay Village Commissioner Convicted After Lying to See Lover in Detention Center https://t.co/MY9zuG2UBn
— NBC 6 South Florida (@nbc6) October 27, 2022
Multiple times in October 2021, Strout entered or attempted to enter the Krome Service Processing Center, an ICE detention facility located in Miami, to see her romantic partner.
The facility had been closed to visitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic but remained open for official business.
According to officials, Strout entered the facility by lying to ICE officers about her reason for visiting.
On one occasion, she used a law firm’s letterhead and told officials that she was a paralegal who needed to visit a detainee to sign legal documents. The unnamed law firm never authorized Strout to use its letterhead or visit the facility on its behalf. Strout also had never worked for the law firm.
In another attempt to enter the facility, Strout presented her North Bay Village Commissioner badge to officers claiming that she was a public official who needed access to the facility.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Strout pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to enter and entering a federal facility using fraud and false pretenses.
According to The Associated Press, Strout was elected to the North Bay Village Commission in 2018. Her term ends in November, and she isn’t running for reelection.
In 2009, Strout won the Miss Rhode Island competition and went on to compete in the Miss America pageant in 2010.
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