A 2003 graduate of Walled Lake Central High School has resigned as Miss Wisconsin-USA after being charged with three counts of felony identity fraud.Shaletta Tawanna Porterfield, 26, of Madison, Wis., is a liberal arts and women's studies graduate of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
She is accused of falsifying signatures to obtain advertising contracts for Chicago-based American Marketing and Publishing last summer, according to a press release from Miss Wisconsin-USA pageant officials.
Porterfield won the title of Miss Wisconsin-USA last September, but she relinquished the crown after three counts of misappropriate ID information charges were filed against her in Dane County, Wis., Circuit Court.
The Waunakee, Wis., Police Department began investigating Porterfield in November after receiving complaints from local companies, according to the press release.
A lieutenant authorized to speak about the case was unavailable Sunday.
Porterfield’s case was bound over for trial, which will begin July 8.
The Green Bay Press Gazette reports that Porterfield has entered a not guilty plea.
Porterfield announced the move to relinquish her crown this weekend on her Facebook page.
“I just wanted to drop you all a line, and let you know that I have resigned as Miss Wisconsin-USA due to personal matters in my life at this time,” Porterfield wrote Friday.
“She was formally charged in April, and they said they’re not going to drop the charges, but they could eventually be pleaded down,” said James Hansen, a public relations representative for the pageant.
“They could be down to a misdemeanor, but she did not want to embarrass the pageant by continuing to fight this, even though it could be possible she could’ve fought through (the charges).”
It was Porterfield’s decision to resign, Hansen said.
“We didn’t force it on her,” he said. “She decided it would be best for her and the show.”
Porterfield — the daughter of Geraldine M. Porterfield Skoric of West Bloomfield Township — is the first Miss Wisconsin-USA titleholder to resign.
Jordan Marie Morkin, 20, of Green Bay, will now represent Wisconsin in the Miss USA pageant on June 19 in Las Vegas.
There, Morkin will battle Channing Kristine Pierce, 23, of Royal Oak, who was named Miss Michigan-USA in Ann Arbor last September.
