Caroline Giuliani’s shoplifting case set for dismissal

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani’s 21-year-old daughter is on track to get her cosmetics-store shoplifting case dismissed with a day of community service after a judge agreed Tuesday to prosecutors’ offer to resolve the case.

The case against Caroline Giuliani, accused of pocketing about $100 worth of makeup at a high-end shop, was adjourned in contemplation of dismissal. The legal term means the case will be closed and sealed if Miss Giuliani completes the volunteer work and doesn’t have any more brushes with the law for six months.

“Stay out trouble and avoid rearrest,” Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Jennifer Schecter told Miss Giuliani, a Harvard University student. Miss Giuliani didn’t speak in court and ignored reporters’ questions as she, mother Donna Hanover and others waded through a media pack to a waiting Hyundai SUV. Her father wasn’t there.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office said the resolution of her case was standard policy for first-time, low-dollar-value shoplifting arrests — not a special deal for the daughter of the former federal prosecutor turned law-and-order mayor and Republican presidential candidate, who made cracking down on petty crime a centerpiece of his tenure at city hall. He viewed being tough on low-level offenses as key to lowering crime rates and improving New Yorkers’ quality of life.

A spokeswoman for him didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail message. The ex-mayor has said through a representative that the case was a personal matter.

His daughter was seen on security video pocketing more than $100 worth of makeup Aug. 4 at a Sephora store in Manhattan, police said. She was arrested on a misdemeanor charge but released with a notice to return to court.

Police said store managers initially indicated they didn’t want to press charges against her, but the cosmetics company said in a statement that it aided prosecutors in their investigation.

The company, part of Paris-based luxury goods giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, declined to comment on the resolution of the case.

Miss Giuliani is the younger of the former mayor’s two children with Ms. Hanover, his ex-wife and a television reporter and actress. They had a bruisingly public split while he was in office — Ms. Hanover famously found out he wanted a divorce when he announced it at a press conference. The ex-mayor has since remarried and asked for privacy to deal with his family relationships.

In 2007, when Mr. Giuliani was seeking the Republican nomination for president, Miss Giuliani listed herself as a member of then-Sen. Barack Obama’s Facebook group supporting his candidacy. But she left the group after an online magazine sent her an inquiry about it, and she didn’t comment on the presidential race.

Mr. Giuliani lost the GOP nod to Sen. John McCain, who was defeated by Mr. Obama.

It wasn’t immediately clear where or when Miss Giuliani would perform her community service. She’s due back in court Nov. 4 to show proof that she has done her volunteer work.

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