WASHINGTON, October 1 (RIA Novosti) – A New York court on Tuesday dropped drug charges against a former Miss Russia beauty queen who has wrestled with addiction and legal problems in recent years, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
“I’ve learned my lesson,” Anna Malova said as she left the Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday after learning that a judge had dismissed charges that she forged prescriptions for painkillers, the AP said. “I look at the world with clear eyes.”
Judge Richard Weinberg dropped the drug charges against Malova, 40, as well as a clothing-store shoplifting case against her, citing Malova’s completion of rehabilitation treatment, according to the report.
“You can be very proud of yourself in getting your life back,” the AP cited Weinberg as saying. “If you find yourself failing, you’ll be back before me.”
Malova 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 US media described as her addiction to the painkiller Vicodin.
Malova was initially allowed to follow a drug rehabilitation program instead of going to jail. But she was jailed in late 2011 after authorities said she was causing problems at the rehab clinic, and last year prosecutors accused her of hording pills while undergoing treatment, the AP reported.
