Missouri ‘Cinderella’ smuggled cocaine in high heels — for her online lover, she says

Missouri’s “Cinderella” might not have had glass high heels, but she did have gold-colored pumps.

And while she might have stuffed those high-heeled shoes with cocaine for a man she met online, she “shouldn’t expect a handsome prince anytime soon,” the Australian Federal Police — also the self-declared “Australian Fashion Police” — posted to Facebook last year.

The woman, 49 years old at the time, was arrested after Australian Border Force officers “allegedly detected ... 2kg of what is believed to be cocaine hidden inside her high-heeled shoe,” according to the post. She was caught smuggling the cocaine by customs officers at the Sydney Airport, The Times in the U.K. reported.

When in court for her arrest, though, Denise Marie Woodrum said she was “tricked” by a man she met on the internet, The Times reported this week. She also previously told the Australian-based court that she fell in love with that man, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. That man went by “Hendrik Cornelius,” the paper reported, and they never met in person.

Woodrum, a lay associate with the Catholic order Adorers of the Blood of Christ, said she thought she would never fall in love again after a failed marriage, The Sydney Morning Herald reported, but that changed when she met Cornelius.

A lay associate is “someone who is inspired by the spirituality of a particular order and seeks to follow it in their private life,” Cheryl Wittenauer, communications director for the Adorers of the Blood of Christ in St. Louis, told Fox News. The woman has been involved with the order for at least five years, Fox reported, and once considered becoming a nun.

In January, she pleaded guilty to importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, Fox reported. On Thursday, she was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison with a non-parole period of four and a half years, BuzzFeed News reported.

Woodrum’s laywer, though, believed she had been “groomed” to help Cornelius.

“There are fraudsters out there who are relying on women who are vulnerable,” attorney Rebecca Neil said in court, according to the Morning Herald.

The online couple had texted each other hundreds of romantic messages, BuzzFeed reported, and Woodrum told the court she was scammed by Cornelius and committed the crime “on the promise of a future together.”

But the judge disagreed that Woodrum, who lived near the Lake of the Ozarks, was “duped,” The Morning Herald reported.

“I do not accept that she is genuinely contrite for her offending as opposed to being sorry for the situation she now finds herself caught in,” Judge Penelope Wass said on Thursday. “She continues to blame others for her own reckless actions and appears to have little or no insight into her offending.”

Representatives for Australia’s Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions told The Washington Post that when Woodrum was in the airport, she said she was going to Sydney to see the Harbour Bridge and the aquarium. She also originally said the gold high-heeled shoes were a gift for her mom.

But once her suitcases were inspected, Woodrum allegedly said “How much did they put in the shoes? ... Sorry, just talking to myself,” according to the Post.

She then changed her story to say the shoes were a gift for her friend who she’d be meeting in the airport, the Post reported.

Woodrum was then arrested, police posted to Facebook last year.

“Besides the obvious crimes against fashion she was also charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, namely cocaine,” the post said. “This charge comes with hefty prison terms and fines.”

The department joked that Dorothy from Wizard of Oz — with her sparkly red heels — knew what “Cinderella” did not.

“Even Dorothy knew to not try importing drugs into Oz,” the department said.

It is unclear whether Woodrum’s “prince” is actually named Hendrik Cornelius or whether he is facing charges.

“The Commonwealth Director of Prosecutions is not an investigative agency and has no information on any investigation relating to ‘Hendrik Cornelius,’” the federal prosecutor’s office told The Post.

Woodrum’s dad, Tom Rozanski of Illinois, told the Post he didn’t believe the news about his daughter, who he says is a “good person.”

“When she gets out, she’s going to have to sit down and explain to me what she did and why she did it,” he told the newspaper. “If she knowingly went into this, it wasn’t fair for her to do what she did to her family.”

In 2016, “Cocaine Cowgirls” were also arrested after smuggling cocaine into Australia. The Canadian women — and one alleged male accomplice — allegedly smuggled $30 million worth of cocaine into the country while on a cruise.

It was the “largest seizure in Australia of narcotics carried by passengers of a cruise ship or airliner,” CBC reported.

This story was originally published September 6, 2018 at 10:37 AM.