I’m not sure why it took so long to arrest this character for prescription abuse. It’s about time law enforcement start cracking down on unscrupulous doctors who finance their lavish lifestyles by taking cash to fill unnecessary prescriptions for their wealthy patients. I wish I could have seen Howard K. Stern’s arrogant face when they slapped the cuffs on him.

From NY Daily News:

    Anna Nicole Smith’s boyfriend Howard K. Stern and two psychiatrists supplied the former Playboy playmate with excessive amounts of drugs before she died of an accidental overdose two years ago, authorities said Thursday.

    The 40-year-old Stern, Sandeep Kapoor, 40, and Khristine Eroshevich, 61, were hit with felony counts of conspiracy, obtaining fraudulent prescriptions and unlawfully prescribing a controlled substance.

    California Attorney General Jerry Brown said they “furnished thousands of prescription pills to Ms. Smith, including opiates, benzodiazepines, and other controlled and noncontrolled substances, often for no legitimate medical purpose.

    “There is ample evidence that Dr. Eroshevich and Dr. Kapoor violated their ethical obligations as physicians, while Mr. Stern funneled highly addictive drugs to Ms. Smith,” Brown said.

    The doctors falsified prescriptions for Smith and were guilty of “obtaining, delivering and administering these prescription drugs,” he said.

    Kapoor prescribed methadone, lorazepam and Xanax for Smith in August 2006 when she was eight months pregnant with daughter Dannielynn, according to the complaint.

    The prescription was made out to “Michelle Smith,” an alias Smith was known to use.

    Stern also asked a Los Angeles pharmacy to ship methadone to the Bahamas in the name “Vicki Marshall,” which was intended for Smith, the complaint states.

    Dannielynn was born on Sept. 7 in the Bahamas.

    Eroshevich’s lawyer, Adam Braun, acknowledged his client used fictitious names for some of the prescriptions he wrote for Smith, but only for privacy reasons.

    “It was not to deceive anyone,” he said.

    Attorneys for Stern and Kapoor couldn’t be reached for comment.

    Smith was found unresponsive at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., on Feb. 8, 2007, and subsequently died of what an autopsy ruled was an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. She was 39.

    Eleven medications found in her hotel room were prescribed by Eroshevich – eight in Stern’s name, two to someone named Alex Katz and one to Eroshevich herself.

    Among them were the sedative chloral hydrate that became increasingly lethal when combined with other prescription drugs in Smith’s system – 4 benzodiazepines: Klonopin (Clonazepam), Ativan (Lorazepam), Serax (Oxazepam), and Valium (Diazepam), the complaint said.

    She also had taken Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) and Topamax (Toprimate), an anticonvulsant, which likely contributed to the sedative effect of chloral hydrate and the benzodiazepines.

    More than 600 pills – including about 450 muscle relaxants – were missing from the prescriptions that were no more than five weeks old.

    None of the drugs was prescribed in Smith’s name.

    Six months earlier, Smith’s 20-year-old son, Daniel, collapsed and died in her Bahama hospital room while visiting his mother and newborn sister.

    An autopsy found he died of a lethal combination of Zoloft, Lexapro and methadone.

    The complaint said Stern hit the two doctors up for drugs the day after Daniel’s death and eventually asked Eroshevich “to bring excessive quantities of controlled substances” to Smith.

    Eroshevich continued writing prescriptions intended for Smith all the way through Jan. 26, 2007, two weeks before Smith’s death, the complaint said.

    Prosecutors have recommended bail of $20,000 each.

    No arraignment date has been set.