Police say booze involved as bat-swinging beauty queen clubs party guest
By Carli Teproff - The Miami Herald
Vanessa Barcelo, 26, was arrested early Thursday morning after police say she used a baseball bat to beat someone at her own holiday party. She now faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery and battery.
“At one point, most of guests, including the arrested, became very intoxicated,” an officer wrote in her arrest report.
According to the report, she was hosting a party at her Hialeah home to promote her business — One Love Cakes — when she confronted David Duperon, who had gone upstairs to help another partygoer.
Armed and beautiful
Duperon and another witness told police that he had complied with her request to leave, but she “armed herself with a blue Nike aluminum bat she keeps in her living room,” an officer wrote, and followed him outside.
She then continued to push him with the baseball bat and then hit him, according to the report. Another subject, who has not been identified, punched the victim in the face. Police say Barcelo then “began to punch/hit him in the face/eye area several times with her hands.”
Duperon left and called 911.
Fact gathering
His attorney, Elias Hilal. said Thursday he was “still gathering facts,” but said his client was “beaten very bad” and was set to have surgery Friday.
Barcelo answered her phone Thursday night, but referred a reporter to her attorney, Josef Timlichman.
“We are confident that once all the facts of what occurred last night come to light my client will be absolved of any criminal responsibility,” he said. “We intend to fight these charges and prove that Vanessa is innocent of any wrongdoing.”
Barcelo took the crown in April and competed in July for the Miss Florida USA title, but lost.
The Miss Florida USA Pageant said Thursday in a statement: “While we cannot comment on the potential outcome of a case as it proceeds through the judicial system, specific morality clauses within each pageant delegate’s description of duties would be taken into consideration upon a legal ruling.”
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