Elofson, Matt. “Rebekah Revels in award; jury awards $11,000 to ex-Miss N.C.” Robesonian 27 March 2004.
On Friday, March 26, a Robeson County jury ruled that Tosh Welch, ex-boyfriend of Rebekah Revels (chosen Miss North Carolina in 2002), must pay her $11,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Welch sent an e-mail message to the Miss America Web site on July 19, 2002, stating that he had topless photographs of Revels.
Welch, a reservation police officer with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, earns $27,000/year in salary and $6,000/year from the tribe's gambling profits. Barry Nakell, Revels’ lawyer, had argued for a larger reward based on Revels’ loss of $10,000 from the city of Fayetteville, $20,000-$30,000 in Miss North Carolina appearance fees, lost opportunities to display and develop her performing talents, and lost scholarships she might have received had she won the Miss America pageant.