Atty. Gen. Says Stern Was Anna Nicole's "Chief Enabler"

Attorney General Jerry Brown has hit out against Howard K. Stern, boyfriend of late Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith, accusing Stern of being the "principal enabler" of the prescription drug addiction that ended Smith's life. Brown publicly lambasted Stern and two doctors responsible for prescribing the drugs that may have contributed to Smith's fatal overdose in 2007, according to the L.A. Times.

The charges levelled against Stern, psychiatrist Khristine Eroshevich and gerontologist Sandeep Kapoor include conspiracy for prescribing an addict medication, and if convicted, the trio could spend a maximum of six years in prison, according to a prosecutor. Authorities assert that Stern, Eroshevich and Kapoor gave Smith thousands of addictive pills during a three-year period preceding her highly publicized death in a Florida hotel.

"My hope is the message will go out: Doctors do not have a license to pump innocent and often vulnerable people full of dangerous chemicals," Atty. Gen. Brown said in a damning statement, surmising that the three defendants were likely motivated by a desire to be close to Smith's fame and the model's "high life."

"There is a certain psychic gain here to be part of the cliques of celebrity and the power," he said Friday.

Stern and Kapoor turned themselves in to the Whittier Police Department on Thursday night before being freed on $20,000 bail, according to the L.A. Times. Eroshevich planned to turn herself in on Monday, according to authorities. All three are scheduled for arraignment in Superior Court on May 13.