WILD

Disgraced ‘Cupcake Mogul’ Worked at Zion National Park While on the Run

Prosecutors are asking for a “substantial” sentence of roughly 9 to 11 years.

An Ohio cupcake entrepreneur who for years lived a secret double life under a dead baby’s identity, using the purloined name to obtain a student pilot’s certificate, a job as a flight attendant, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent COVID relief funds, was working at a U.S. government facility—under her real name—as federal agents were trying to hunt her down. Ava Misseldine, aka “Brie Bourgeois,” was employed as the manager of the Zion National Park Visitor Center in Utah until a week before she was arrested, according to a sentencing memorandum reviewed by The Daily Beast. Still, Misseldine falsely told court officials after her arrest that she “became unemployed due to the current charges,” according to the memo. The memo also confirms The Daily Beast’s previous reporting that Misseldine, who claimed to have been a cancer researcher and that she had grown up in Hawaii, where she said her family owned a tea plantation, in fact made it all up. Misseldine, who was arrested June 9, 2022, pleaded guilty in September and is now awaiting sentencing. Prosecutors are asking for a “substantial” sentence of roughly 9 to 11 years.