The beauty queen who was slammed by a judge for launching a ‘terroristic’ campaign of harassment against a rival has landed a job with the Girl Scouts of America, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
Victoria Vespico issued a torrent of abuse and death threats to Robyn Kass-Gerji under a cloak of anonymity.
The 28-year-old sent threats so vicious to Kass-Gerji, 27, that a Superior Court judge in Washington DC granted a two-year Anti Stalking Order (ASO) against her.
In issuing the ASO, Judge John McCabe found Vespico had committed ’15 acts of terroristic threats and stalking’.
Despite this, Vespico has managed to land herself a role as a Program Partner Coordinator at Girl Scouts, according to a jubilant announcement she made recently on LinkedIn.
She is the point of contact given on the Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania‘s website as an organizer of Girl Fest at Camp Archibald, an event taking place this October.
Victoria Vespico, the Miss Pennsylvania beauty queen whose campaign of harassment caused another competitor to withdraw now works for the Girl Scouts of America, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal
Robyn Kass-Gerji, a contestant for the Miss Pennsylvania pageant, pulled out of the competition after receiving bloodcurdling death threats from her rival, saying she fears for her safety
The event promises girls they can immerse themselves in activities that highlight the Scouts’ four pillars: entrepreneurship, life skills, outdoors and STEM.
She has also been bragging about using the pageant scholarship money to go to Harvard.
Speaking when she was crowned Miss Lancaster County 2023, Vespico shared that she had been a Girl Scout for more than 19 years and noted, ‘Within the Girl Scout Law, we promise to use our resources wisely and make the world a better place.’
But a DailyMail.com investigation has unearthed more of the blood-curdling comments made by Vespico across hundreds of texts submitted as evidence in the case.
In the messages, she threatened to kill her rival by stabbing her or running her over with her car, told her to ‘just kill yourself’ and threatened to murder her boyfriend, her mother and her dogs.
She also said she would burn down Kass-Gerji’s house, saying she would enjoy watching ‘the life leave your eyes as I crush your whole world’.
Despite receiving the ASO, Kass-Gerji – who qualified for the Miss Pennsylvania pageant after being crowned Miss Susquehanna Valley – ultimately withdrew from the competition over continued fears for her safety.
DailyMail.com’s attempts to contact Vespico both at her home and by phone were unsuccessful.
Kass-Gerji claims the beauty pageant organizer provided no plan to ensure her safety at the state title pageant at which her tormentor was also competing.
But while Kass-Gerji felt compelled to bow out, Vespico, this year’s Miss Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, was allowed to continue to compete.
She was crowned second runner-up on June 15, despite organizers’ awareness that she is the subject of the ASO and a mountain of evidence seen by DailyMail.com.
The evidence tranche proved that both local directors and the Miss America Organization had received complaints about Vespico from other girls alleging bullying and harassment dating back to 2020.
Speaking to DailyMail.com Kass-Gerji said, ‘Miss America is an organization that is meant to uplift and empower women.
‘Instead, I have been shamed and revictimized over and over again and while I support my friends [who continue to compete] I don’t think I have to support the organization to do that.’
Vespico (in yellow) was crowned second runner-up in the contest that was won by Miss Greater Pittsburgh Page Weinstein, 26
Vespico (pictured) has managed to land herself a role as a Program Partner Coordinator at Girl Scouts, according to a jubilant announcement she made recently on LinkedIn
A DailyMail.com investigation has unearthed more of the blood-curdling comments made by Vespico across hundreds of texts submitted as evidence in the case
Kass-Gerji went on to reveal that she is now looking to press criminal charges against Vespico after her Washington DC apartment and her car were broken into on the eve of the state title competition held in York, Pennsylvania.
She said, ‘I was really upset but I have come to terms with it that giving up my local title was the best option for my safety and the safety of my loved ones because my life, and theirs, is worth a lot more than competing.
‘They’ve known this was going on since March, so I don’t know why they didn’t have an idea in place as to how to protect me during the competition.’
Instead, Kass-Gerji sent emails seen by DailyMail.com to the Miss Pennsylvania organizers requesting reassurance that she would be kept safe and separate from Vespico at the week-long state competition went unanswered.
Meanwhile, Vespico appears to have received little to no censure from the board who told Kass-Gerji that the onus was on the two girls to abide by the conditions set down in the ASO, minimized the risks and dismissed her concerns.
Breathtakingly, when she shared her fears and the nature of the abuse with two local Miss Pennsylvania directors at first they flat out refused to believe that Vespico sent the messages and told Kass-Gerji the best thing to do was not talk about it and not share it.
In a recorded conversation heard by DailyMail.com, local director Charles Kasko can be heard telling Kass-Gerji, ‘You get a message you don’t like, don’t share it, don’t talk about it, block the number. It’s that simple and move on.’
Fellow director Dawn Cinti added, ‘It’s not Victoria, I can tell you that.’
The Miss Pennsylvania beauty queen whose campaign of harassment caused another competitor to withdraw now works for the Girl Scouts of America, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal
Vespico, 28, has an anti-stalking order against her after harassing contestant Robyn Kass-Gerji, 27. DailyMail.com can reveal she works for the Girl Scouts
Victoria Vespico was the second runner up for Miss Pennsylvania earlier this month
To this day, Kass-Gerji doesn’t understand why the directors refused to accept the evidence being presented to them by her and others – evidence that, in her case, convinced a court that the risk to her safety was real and present.
Certainly, texts sent by Vespico and presented as evidence in court appear to show her belief that she is untouchable. In one message she wrote, ‘It’s not like I will get caught. I mean look. You couldn’t get anyone to believe you.’
In another she ranted, ‘I’m prettier And smarter And nicer And I do more community service than you. Duh You could never be Miss America That crown is mine.’
She said that Debbie Green Butcher, the Executive Director of Miss Pennsylvania Scholarship Foundation and official Pennsylvania licensee to the Miss America Organization ‘loves’ her, texting, ‘Otherwise I would have been banned already.
‘They warned me but they won’t do anything because they know I am the real winner.’
She told her, ‘You’ll never win. You don’t deserve to be miss Pennsylvania. Those scholarships are mine. I’m going to use them at HARVARD BECAUSE I AM BETTER THAN YOU.’
She referred to Kass-Gerji as ‘piggy b***h’ asking ‘Are u ready to die now? Just so you know no one is going to protect you. No one believes you.’
She called her a ‘fat piece of s**t’ and threatened, ‘I will come to DC and set your house on fire and what you [sic] scream as your stupid dogs die. It’ll be so funny.’
The pageant was held in York, Pennsylvania on June 15
Kass-Gerji held the position of Miss Miss Susquehanna Valley 2024
The former pageant contestant was hoping to earn scholarship money through the competition
Screenshot shows an example of the kind of text messages Kass-Gerji received from one of her fellow contestants, which led her to withdraw herself from the Miss Pennsylvania contest
Messages Kass-Gerji received included death threats to her, her boyfriend and her pets
And she mused, ‘You should just kill yourself. Unless you want me to do it for you. How should I do it. Knife. Hit you with a car. What’s slower and more painful. I’ll think about it. If you compete at miss Pa this year I’ll do it then.’
For her part Kass-Gerji said she had been on the receiving end of this sort of harassment for four years during which Vespico had also bullied her in person to the point of tears.
But while she feels disappointed and let down by the pageant organization, she draws strength in the knowledge that she is not alone in her experience, nor without the support of many fellow titleholders.
One, who spoke to DailyMail.com on condition of anonymity, has resigned her title in protest saying she cannot be part of an organization that fails to act on such behavior.
This former teen pageant titleholder recalled one incident in which Vespico ‘hit me as hard as she could in the arm and stood up in the restaurant with her crown on and started screaming at me and calling me all sort of vile names’.
Some years later, she said, ‘When I had finally gotten to the age to compete in the Miss division, we had to compete against each other in a local competition.
‘In the dressing room…she was talking about her sex life. I had asked her to stop and in response she asked me if I was still a virgin.
‘I was 17 years old and had just been raped three months prior. I said, ‘Um I guess it depends what you would count.’
DailyMail.com has seen the email this competitor sent to the Miss America Board of Directors detailing her experiences and dated February 2020.
Kass-Gerji ended up removing herself from the competition for her own safety
According to the board’s response her email was forwarded to the Miss Pennsylvania Board of Directors.
She states that they told her she would have to come forward with her identity to file a grievance – a stipulation to which she agreed while informing then she was ‘terrified of this titleholder.’
She said, ‘They sent me a link. I emailed them informing them that the link to file a grievance did not work and I never got a response again.’
She added, that she was choosing to share her experience now because, ‘A change needs to be made.’
Kass-Gerji agrees. She said ‘About 16 girls came to me with stories [about Vespico]. Dawn (Cinti) and Charlie (Kasko) called me and told me not to come forward with any of it.’
When she did, she says, the organization’s response was ‘very victim blamey.’
Last week the Miss America Organization issued a statement implying that the reason for Kass-Gerji’s withdrawal from the competition was her ineligibility and that she had failed to provide proof of her residency in Pennsylvania.
They wrote, ‘The recent claims made by a title holder who withdrew from the competition citing concerns about feeling unsafe around another competitor have been reviewed with great care.
‘The National Office is not able to mediate civil disputes, but we strive to ensure a safe and fair environment for everyone involved.
‘A judge in Washington DC ruled that both contestants were eligible to compete.
‘Unfortunately, the contestant who chose to withdraw had not provided any proof of eligibility to the State Organization in Pennsylvania.
‘The national office was copied on all communications regarding this matter, including the extensive efforts made to ensure the safety of the contestant which were communicated to her.’
Kass-Gerji is adamant that no such efforts were ever communicated to her leading to her decision to withdraw.
She also pointed out that her non-profit victim advocacy organization is based in Pennsylvania, that she provided Pennsylvania tax records to the board and that she splits her time between there and DC.
The former Miss Susquehanna Valley 2024 beauty queen spoke to CBS 21 News about her decision to step down from the competition
She filed for the ASO in Washington, DC because Pennsylvania has no provisions for orders of protection unless you are a family member, living with the subject or in an intimate relationship with them.
Despite implying that she was in breach of contract the organization has allegedly failed to address the fact that it has not acted on Vespico’s breach of that same contract which includes an anti-bullying and harassment clause in which it states such behavior will not be tolerated.
Kass-Gerji said, ‘I will never regret competing. I’m a licensed victim advocate and sexual assault and domestic abuse survivor.
‘I speak about my experience as a survivor going from surviving to thriving, competing was part of that and advocacy was a huge part of why I did it.
‘It opened up a whole new world to me, put me in touch with senators and people I would never have reached otherwise.
‘But I haven’t felt supported by the organization I supported for years. This was my last year to compete, there’s $70,000 of scholarship money at stake. I want to go to law school, I’m completing my doctorate, that would have gone a long way.
‘I just wish this had all been handled differently. I think they thought I’d kind of just let it go but I’m not letting it go because this has been going on for years and they have to be held accountable.’
