Miss Congeniality pleads guilty in Vancouver's Stanley Cup riots
VANCOUVER, British Columbia Police had an easy time identifying one suspect in Vancouver's Stanley Cup riots: a former Miss Congeniality beauty pageant winner.
Sophie Laboissonniere, who was 20 during the June 2011 riots over the Canucks' loss in the National Hockey League finals, has pleaded guilty for rioting. She was not in court when her lawyer entered the plea Monday on her behalf.
She was among the first suspects charged after reports identified her as a Miss Congeniality winner at a Vancouver beauty pageant.
Laboissonniere was charged with participating in a riot and breaking and entering. David Baker, her lawyer, says she pleaded guilty to the riot charge, while the break-and-enter charge will be dropped. Details of her actions during the riot will come out at a sentencing hearing later this year.
"I don't think it's appropriate for me to be commenting on the facts now, but I can say this: compared to the vast majority of people charged here, her participation in this riot was at the very low end of the scale," Baker told reporters outside provincial court, according to the National Post. "She has received a level of notoriety that goes way beyond the offense she committed. She's stuck with that for a long time."
All three CBSSports.com NHL experts have picked Vancouver to return to the Stanley Cup finals this year.