Teenage Girl Arrested After School Makes Unfortunate Discovery

Note: This story was originally reported in May 2016.

A South Carolina teenager who once held beauty queen titles found herself in legal trouble after an unusual scandal involving forged medical notes. Madison Cox, 17 at the time, had been crowned Miss Spartanburg International and later Miss South Carolina Teen International. But instead of headlines about pageants, her name appeared in police reports after she allegedly faked doctors’ notes to cover absences from school.

According to WSPA, Cox used a notepad from Parris Family Chiropractic to write excuses for missing class at Byrnes High School. The issue? The clinic confirmed she had not been treated on the dates she listed—and, in some cases, the office wasn’t even open. Police said the forged notes quickly unraveled under scrutiny, leading to her arrest.

A mugshot released by Spartanburg County Detention Center made the story spread quickly across local and national outlets. But Cox herself seemed baffled by the attention. Taking to Twitter, she downplayed the seriousness of the charge. “Did they really just put me on the news BC I went to jail for a DOCTORS NOTE???” she wrote, before later deleting the post.

Her commentary continued in a mix of defensiveness and self-reflection. “I’ve got to learn to stop being so childish and keep my mouth closed,” she admitted in another tweet. Still, she struck back at critics, writing: “It’s sad that I’m the only entertainment in y’alls lives.”

While forging notes might sound minor, the incident highlighted how even small lapses in judgment can carry real consequences—especially for young people in the public eye. For Cox, whose pageant titles once made her a symbol of grace and responsibility, the arrest marked a sharp turn from the spotlight of crowns and sashes to the glare of controversy.