Woman pleads guilty to taking baby

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A woman who pleaded guilty to taking a baby during a casting call for a Bollywood movie has been sentenced two and a half years in prison.

Michelle Gopaul, a 24-year-old model and actress from New York City, received the sentence after pleading guilty to one charge of child abduction on Friday, CTV Toronto's John Musselman reports.

Gopaul was charged after one-month-old Roma Patel went missing from a casting call in Toronto's east end on Dec. 30.

Patel's parents had responded to a Bollywood movie casting call advertised on Craigslist. The ad offered $15,000 payment for a young child actor.

Gopaul's sentence comes after a College Park court heard that she had misled her ex-boyfriend into thinking that she was pregnant.

The court heard Gopaul had taken the baby from the casting call to show him and his family. She had previously posed fake ultrasound images on his Facebook page to make it appear that she was having a child.

It was the family of Gopaul's ex-boyfriend that quickly returned the baby to police.

Gopaul's lawyer said the model was in Toronto on a student visa and want to study at the Fiorio hair salon.

RELATED IMAGES

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Michelle Gopaul pretending to be pregnant is shown in this undated evidence photo. Gopaul, accused of kidnapping a baby at a fake Bollywood movie casting call in Toronto has pleaded guilty Friday April 1, 2011, and has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years. (Pat Hewitt / THE CANADIAN PRES)
Michelle Gopaul, a New York City dancer, pleaded guilty to abducting a child from a Bollywood casting call on April 1, 2011.
Lawyer Gary Batasar speaks to the media outside a Toronto court room after his client Michelle Marie Gopaul, 24, appeared in court charged with abduction of a person under 14 on Tuesday January 4, 2011. A New York woman accused of kidnapping a baby during a fake casting call was remanded in custody to Jan. 11. (Chris Young / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Michelle Marie Gopaul is seen in the artist's rendition during court proceedings.
Bridget Gopaul (right) is helped from a Toronto court by a family member after her daughter Michelle Marie Gopaul, 24, appeared in court charged with abduction of a person under 14 on Tuesday January 4, 2011. New York woman accused of kidnapping a baby during a fake casting call was remanded in custody to Jan. 11. (Chris Young / THE CANADIAN PRESS)