SWEDISH REALITY STAR DODGES FELONY RAP
Reality show star is accused of taking $545 pair of designer glasses.
WEST PALM BEACH — “Swedish Hollywood Wives” star Gunilla Persson has had her felony shoplifting charge knocked down to a misdemeanor, court records show.
Palm Beach police arrested Persson, 59, who lives in California and has for eight years starred in the popular Scandinavian reality TV show — “Svenska Hollywoodfruar” — on May 22 after she allegedly walked out of the Chanel shop on Worth Avenue with a $545 pair of designer glasses.
The new petit theft charge is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.
Grand theft of between $300 and $5,000 is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Persson has pleaded not guilty to the new charge. The docket shows no entry for next hearing.
The document filed Thursday by the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office does not say why the charge was reduced, and a spokesman said the office would not comment.
Phillip T. Ridolfo Jr., Persson’s West Palm Beach lawyer, said Friday he had discussions with prosecutors but did not elaborate. He said Persson “looks forward to resolving them (the charges) amicably with the prosecutors.” Asked if Persson had agreed to any kind of plea deal, he said, “she does not intend to plead guilty.”
Persson — jail records list her as Sonja Gunilla Persson Linville and her address in the wealthy Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades — has been big news in Swedish papers as well since her arrest.
According to the police report, an officer watched security-camera video that showed a woman later identified as Persson don the glasses, walk to a corner of the store and slide them to the top of her head, then return to the counter to buy a handbag. She then left.
The officer, provided a description from the manager as well as the video, later spotted Persson near the store and stopped her. As the two talked, Persson took the sunglasses from her purse and placed them on her head as if they belonged to her, the officer wrote. He said the tags had been removed.
The officer said Persson then said she was going to return the sunglasses later.
Neither Ridolfo nor Persson’s California lawyer has said why she was in Palm Beach.