Odds & Ends

Dateline: Russia—The airline Aeroflot is suing a movie director whose 2004 horror film Night Patrol features one of their planes nearly crashing after a black magic curse is put upon it. Airline bosses have already been in contact with Russian director Timur Bekmambetov, demanding that the scary airborne scenes be cut. Aeroflot's deputy director Boris Yelseyev confirmed the company's wish to pursue legal action. “We did not give permission for the use of our logo in this movie,” Yelseyev told the Vedomosti daily. “If he doesn't take our logo out of the movie, he will not avoid a court action.” Bekmambetov defended his use of the Aeroflot logo, saying, “Basically every plane in Russia has the word Aeroflot on it. That's how it got into the movie.”

Dateline: Georgia—A federal grand jury issued an indictment last week accusing a licensed podiatrist of defrauding Medicare by submitting more than $400,000 in false claims, some for treating patients who don't even have feet. Dr. Russell J. Ellicott was indicted on Medicare fraud and 21 counts of making false statements relating to health care matters. The foot doctor, who saw patients out of his Augusta office and at nursing homes in east Georgia and neighboring South Carolina, allegedly submitted false claims for treatment of patients who had died and patients whose feet had been amputated. One patient had been missing his feet for more than nine years. If convicted, Ellicott could face up to 15 years in prison. Federal prosecutors also seek to recover the funds they say he was not entitled to collect.

Dateline: Georgia—A female teenager dressed in a mouse costume was pelted with pizza at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Macon by an angry mother. Witnesses told Macon police that a 31-year-old woman threw a piece of pizza at the 17-year-old in the fuzzy gray rodent outfit because the restaurant mascot was not paying enough attention to her child. Later, after the employee changed out of the costume, the mother allegedly approached the girl and threatened to “whip” her. No charges were filed in the incident.

Dateline: Florida—Theresa Hall, a student at the University of South Florida, returned home last week to find a burglar passed out drunk in her apartment wearing her clothes. According to a Local 6 News report, Hall arrived home to find her living room and kitchen trashed. After she called the police, she searched the house, at which point she found the burglar passed out in her laundry room. Hall barricaded the room, locked the man inside and waited for officers to arrive. “He had gotten into all kinds of food in my refrigerator, drank half my liquor, made himself at home and pulled things out of my underwear drawer,” Hall explained to Local 6 News. The crossdressing burglar was arrested and taken to jail.

Dateline: Nebraska—The Nebraska Health and Human Services system has revoked the license of a North Platte therapist accused of shooting up a memo that angered him. According to state documents, Robert Powers, a mental health practitioner and professional counselor, got upset last summer when he received a memo saying only the manager of his office would have the key to a certain supply cabinet. Powers took the memo and pumped it full of holes with a .22-caliber handgun before returning it to the office. Two days later, the counselor reportedly called the office secretary and said he was too angry to return to work because he “might shoot somebody.” The comment prompted several co-workers to seek protection orders against him. Last week, the state revoked Powers' license to practice as a counselor or therapist on the grounds of “unprofessional conduct.”