Former FL Pageant Director Heads To Prison For Fraud: U.S. DOJ

MIAMI, FL — The former director of the Miss Florida Scholarship Program was sentenced to 15 months in prison Wednesday for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars intended for the program, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.

Mary Wickersham, 77, was also ordered to pay $243,000 by a federal district judge in Miami. She pleaded guilty to the charges earlier this year.

Since 2002, she served as executive director of the pageant’s scholarship program, which offers educational and financial assistance to young women across the state.

• Also Read: Miss FL Scholarship Director Stole $100K In Donations: DOJ

In 2011, Wickersham formed a Florida corporation called Miss Florida LLC and used it to open a bank account in the same name, the DOJ said. She did this without the knowledge or permission of the Miss Florida Scholarship Program.

She then redirected hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Miss Florida LLC bank account, which she controlled, by using her position as executive director to solicit donations from the program’s recurring business sponsors and donors, the agency said.

All the while, Wickersham represented that those monies would be used to fund scholarships for the Miss Florida program women, though she used the money for her own personal use and gain, according to the DOJ.