Miss America Won't Testify in L.I. Sting Casesutor:

Posted: Tuesday, 01 May 2007 12:01PM



HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (AP) -- An undercover sex sting on Long Island starring Miss America may have bombed after the beauty queen told prosecutors that she would not return to testify.

Lauren Nelson, of Lawton, Okla., worked with police in Suffolk County to target would-be Internet sexual predators, taped for an episode of the television show "America's Most Wanted.'' She posed as a teenager and lured men into chatting online and meeting her at a Bay Shore home, where police and crews were waiting. Eleven men were arrested in the sting.

But one or all of the cases against the men could be in jeopardy after Nelson told prosecutors she did not plan on returning to Long Island to testify, said Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota in Newsday's Tuesday edition.