May 15 (RIA Novosti) A former Miss Russia beauty queen wrestling with drug and legal problems in New York got a break this week when a judge blocked prosecutor’s attempts to ban her from work with medical or retail firms, the New York Post reported.
“I’m not going to place limitations on where Miss Malova can look for work,” the tabloid daily quoted Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Neil Ross as saying in his ruling denying prosecution efforts to prevent Anna Malova from taking a job in either of those sectors, fearing she might pilfer drugs or steal.
Malova, 40, was crowned Miss Russia in 1998 and was a top-10 finalist in the Miss Universe pageant the same year. She was arrested in 2010 after stealing her doctor’s prescription pad and fraudulently filling prescriptions for what the paper described as her addiction to the painkiller Vicodin.
She was arrested again the following year on similar charges but allowed to follow a drug rehabilitation program instead of going to jail, according to the Post and other US media reports.
The reports said Malova was qualified in Russia as a physician but has not been certified to work as such in the United States. The Post said she has been applying for work with doctor’s offices and retail outlets such as clothing chain Banana Republic.
She is due in Manhattan court again next month for a check on her compliance with the drug rehabilitation program and her job search, the report said.
