Laughing teen with jewelry 'like Rick Ross' gets 30 days for flipping off judge (see video)
Updated: A South Florida judge got serious with a laughing teen who flipped him off on Monday.
Penelope Soto, 18, was sentenced to 30 days in jail for contempt after she gave the finger to Judge Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat and told him “F— you.” NBC Miami, CBS News and the Daily Mail have stories and links to the YouTube video.
Soto, who was accused of possession of Xanax, denied she had taken any kind of drugs in the past 24 hours, though she laughed, smiled, stroked her hair and swayed during the bond hearing. “We’re not in a club, be serious about it,” Rodriguez-Chomat warned Soto.
Soto’s admission that she owned jewelry “like [rapper] Rick Ross” led Rodriguez-Chomat to conclude that Soto could pay for her own lawyer. She ran into additional trouble when the judge set bond at $5,000 and told Soto “bye-bye.”
“Adios,” a smiling Soto replied. At that point, Rodriguez-Chomat told Soto to come back and raised her bond to $10,000. Soto’s jaw opened wide. “Are you serious?” she asked. “I am serious. Adios,” the judge replied.
At that point Soto raised her third finger and told the judge, “F— you.” The expletive is muted on the video. At that point, Rodriguez-Chomat calls Soto back one more time and imposes the 30-day sentence.
A Miami TV station live-streamed a hearing Friday at which Soto apologized to Rodriguez-Chomat for her behavior, admitted being under the influence of Xanax when she appeared before him the first time and agreed to enter a treatment program. Rodgriguez-Chomat <a href=”http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/sentence_lifted_for_teen_who_flipped_off_judge_after_she_apologizes/” ” title=”vacated her criminal contempt sentence”>vacated her criminal contempt sentence.
Updated Feb. 8 to note Soto’s apology and vacated sentence.
