Miss Pennsylvania contestant drops out amid claims she received death threats from another contestant
YORK, Pa. (KDKA) - A Miss Pennsylvania contestant is quitting the competition after she said she got death threats from another contestant.
Robyn Kass-Gerji was crowned Miss Susquehanna Valley earlier this year and she was planning to compete for Miss Pennsylvania this weekend but told our sister station WHP in York that she began getting death threats against her and her loved ones this spring.
Kass-Gerji said she got several texts from the woman and was threatened in person.
"It happened at the Miss Pennsylvania orientation actually," she recalled. "It was a very quick incident. I was going into the bathroom as she was coming out and she whispered, 'I will get rid of you, I will punch you' and she just kept walking and I just kind of stood there."
In a civil case, a judge found that another contestant was responsible for the messages and granted an anti-stalking order but the Miss Pennsylvania Foundation allowed both women to still compete.
They said they brought in additional security and would keep the women apart.
While the Miss Pennsylvania Foundation claimed they told Kass-Gerji about the plan, she said that never happened.
"Unfortunately, my time with the organization is up, but I am not the only one that this is happening to and I want them to take a stand against this and let the other victims that are currently competing know that there are options for them and that by coming forward isn't going to bring some kind of retribution on them by Miss America," she said.
The Miss America Foundation said that Kass-Gerji dropped out after she asked to confirm she lived in Pennsylvania but it was discovered she was registered to vote in Washington D.C. as well as has a car registered there.
Kass-Gerji said she spends half of the year working there and the other half living in the Pittsburgh area.