anna nicole smith death photos

More than two years after Anna Nicole Smith died from a lethal cocktail of prescription drugs, authorities have filed the first criminal charges – targeting her former attorney and boyfriend, Howard K. Stern.

Anna Nicole Smith's boyfriend Howard K. Stern and two doctors were charged Thursday with giving thousands of prescription drugs to the former Playboy Playmate in the years leading up to her fatal drug overdose in 2007.

Stern and doctors Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich were each charged with three felony counts of conspiracy and several other charges of fraudulent prescriptions. Prosecutors said the doctors gave the drugs - including opiates and sedatives - to Stern, who then gave them to Smith.

The prescriptions were issued between June 2004 and January 2007, just weeks before Smith's death.

The medical examiner's office has said Eroshevich, a Los Angeles psychiatrist and friend of the starlet's, authorized all the prescription medications found in the Hollywood, Fla., hotel room where the 39-year-old Smith was found unresponsive shortly before her death in Feb. 8, 2007.

Stern, 40, a fixture at Smith's side for years who once claimed to be the father of her daughter Dannielynn, has been formally charged with conspiring to furnish drugs to Smith prior to her death, prosecutors said Thursday.

He was arrested and booked by police in Whittier, Calif., with bail set for $20,000, police records show.

Also charged with felonies were two doctors, Sandeep Kapoor, 40, and Khristine Eroshevich, 61, who allegedly prescribed medication unlawfully to Smith, according to the L.A. County District Attorney's Office.

Kapoor also was arrested and booked in Whittier. A warrant was issued for Eroshevich's arrest.
The conspiracy counts allege the three defendants conspired to provide controlled substances to Smith from between June 2004 and January 2007. They also were charged with "prescribing, administering or dispensing a controlled substance to an addict," among other charges.

Smith, the former Playboy model who starred in the reality series The Anna Nicole Show, died at age 39 in February 2007 of an accidental overdose of a combination of prescription drugs. Her death came just months after her 20-year-old son Daniel also died of a lethal combination of drugs.
related story:Howard K. Stern Charged With Giving Drugs to Anna Nicole Smith