Howard K. Stern Appears in L.A. Court

LOS ANGELES -- Arraignment has been delayed for Anna Nicole Smith's longtime companion, Howard K. Stern, and a psychiatrist accused of over-supplying the one-time Playboy playmate with prescription drugs.

The 40-year-old Stern and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, 61, appeared briefly in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Tuesday, but a court official postponed the hearing until May 13.

Each were charged with six felonies March 12, including conspiracy, unlawfully prescribing a controlled substance and prescribing, administering or dispensing a controlled substance to an addict.

Dr. Sandeep Kapoor is also charged in the case. He is scheduled to be arraigned on May 13th as well.

The three are accused of knowingly supplying Smith with excessive amounts of addictive prescription drugs prior to her overdose death in 2007.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has said Stern was the "principal enabler" and that Drs. Eroshevich and Kapoor were "prescribing drugs excessively to a known addict and using false and fictitious names all in violation of the law and in furtherance of a conspiracy."

"These people were caught up in being in a relationship with and being around the celebrity Anna Nicole Smith," Brown said.

The charges allege that the trio conspired to give opiates, benzodiazapines and other controlled substances to the former model between June 5, 2004, and January 26, 2007, just two weeks before her death from an overdose.

Kapoor and Eroshevich are also each charged with one count of obtaining a prescription for opiates by "fraud, deceit or misrepresentation," and one count of obtaining a prescription for opiates by giving a false name or address.

Stern and Kapoor are free on $20,000 bond. Eroshevich is free on $20,000 bail.

The investigation leading to the charges against the three began in October 2007, when investigators served search warrants at various medical offices in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The offices of Eroshevich and Kapoor were both searched.

Anna Nicole Smith died on February 8, 2007 of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in Hollywood, Florida. She was 39-years-old at the time.

Eleven prescription medications were found in Smith's hotel room the day she died, according to the medical examiner. Also, more than 600 pills were missing from prescriptions that were only several weeks old when Smith died.

Most of the drugs were prescribed in Stern's name, and none were prescribed in Smith's own name. Prosecutors say some of the medications included valium, vicodin, xanax, ambien and methadone.

The medical examiner's office has said that Eroshevich authorized all the prescription medications found in the room.

Eroshevich's attorney acknowledged that his client wrote some of the prescriptions using fictitious names for Smith, but said she did so for "privacy reasons," not to commit fraud.

At the time of her death, Smith had just given birth to a daughter, Dannielynn Hope. The girl became the focus of a lengthy custody battle between Stern and photographer Larry Birkhead.

DNA tests ultimately determined that Birkhead was the father, and he was granted sole custody of Dannielynn.

Smith's death also followed shortly after the death of her 20-year-old son Daniel in September 2006, also from an accidental drug overdose.

Eroshevich began treating Smith following Daniel's death. She traveled with the starlet on several occasions over a six-month period to the Bahamas, where Smith was living with Stern.

Call us today to discuss how the V.I.P. Way can free you from your opiate dependency and get your life back. Call today: (800)276-7021 or (702)308-6353 Email: info@rapiddetoxlasvegas.com Medical Director: Board-Certified by American Board of Anesthesiology 1994, former chief of cardiac anesthesia, University of Nevada School of Medicine. Board-Certified by American Board of Pain Medicine 1997, Clinical Assistant Professor University Nevada School of Medicine.