Howard K. Stern
Gossip

A nanny who once worked for Anna Nicole Smith claimed she saw Howard K. Stern and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich force drugs on the late Playboy model.

This according to an investigator testifying in courtyesterday.

The Department of Justice's Danny Santiago testified that Nadine Alexie claimed she saw Smith's companion (Stern) and former shrink (Eroshevich) give Smith drugs against her will that kept her asleep for days.

Santiago said he got the information from Alexie in September.

The nanny, according to Santiago, also claimed that Smith would wake up covered in vomit and feces in her bed. Absolutely tragic, terrible stuff.

Anna Nicole Smith (1968-2007).

The testimony was part of a preliminary hearing to determine if Stern, Dr. Eroshevich and Dr. Sandeep Kapoor will be tried for Smith's death.

We suspect they will be. Last week, a pharmacist testified that Eroshevich prescribing lethal doses of drugs to Smith and he wouldn't comply.

The trio of defendants face more than a dozen felony counts of allegedly supplying Smith with drugs illegally, and for aiding a drug addict.

All three defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Testifying at Howard K. Stern's preliminary hearing Monday, Larry Birkhead was asked if a prosecutor in the case tried to unfairly influence his testimony.

During cross examination, Ellyn Garafalo, a lawyer for Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, who is on trial along with Stern and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich on 23 felony counts related to the death of Anna Nicole Smith, asked Birkhead some interesting questions.

Namely, Garafalo asked if Deputy D.A. Sarah Slice cornered him in the hall last Friday and accused him of taking Howard K. Stern's side when he testified.

Larry Birkhead said the conversation did take place and he felt chastised.

Birkhead testified Slice suggested something was developmentally wrong with his daughter Dannielynn because of Anna Nicole Smith's history of drug use.

Outside court, Birkhead said Dannielynn was not only fine, some doctors have told him she's advanced for her age. She sure seems happy and adorable ...

Larry Birkhead and Dannielynn go to a pumpkin patch in tender moment captured by a celebrity gossip photographer. [Photo: PacificCoastNewsOnline.com]

As we reported last week, Birkhead was highly critical of Stern in the wake of Smith's death, but the two later resolved their differences and get along well.

Perhaps to establish his motives, whatever they are, Birkhead was then asked what he makes from media outlets. He testified he's raked in about $2 million.

One can assume, given that statement, that he has been paid money to appear in photos and magazine articles with Dannielynn. Not judging, just saying.

It's all subject to your own interpretation. Some might say that makes him a horrible, exploitive father. Others might not. Hey, THG reports, you criticize!

The prosecutor was then asking about reality shows, until the judge jumped in ... "I don't care about that unless it has to do with a balloon or something."

No word on whether Larry's gonna be on Millionaire Matchmaker.

Anna Nicole Smith's death wasn't pretty. In fact, it was the polar opposite.

Revelations made in the first hours of the preliminary hearing against Howard K. Stern, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and Dr. Sandeep Kapoor - the trio facing a combined 23 felony charges relating to the star's drug use and death - are disgusting.

We're talkin' feces in the bed, infections in uncomfortable places, blue-lipped ugliness. Detectives investigating the Playboy model's death found the following:

• Smith was found February 8, 2007, covered with feces.
• A dozen different prescription and illicit drugs from her hotel room, many prescribed by the hundreds, included powerful sedatives and muscle relaxers.
• Howard K. Stern had served Anna, who was complaining of flu-like symptoms, children's electrolyte formula Pedialyte in a baby bottle. Great imagery.
• Smith's cause of death was ruled acute combined drug toxicity of chloral hydrate, with additional drugs contributing. Sound like someone else we know?
• Coroners say Smith had an infected abscess on her buttock and that Dr. Khristine Eroshevich admitted that Smith had been taking meds via injection.
• Medications including methadone had been shipped to Smith's P.O. box during her stay in the Bahamas and were sometimes picked up by Stern.

Anna Nicole Smith (1968-2007) was a deeply disturbed individual.

Yeah. And it's actually much worse than you think. One can only wonder what will happen when Larry Birkhead is called to the stand in the case this week.

For the full story, read on at E! ...

The preliminary hearing for the three shady defendants accused of enabling the drug habit of Anna Nicole Smith - her former companion Howard K. Stern and her former Drs. Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich - begins this week.

Those three are in deep $h!t, but ironically, Stern's fate could be in the hands of Larry Birkhead. His former rival will be in the spotlight, and a sticky situation.

Prosecutors will ask the father of Anna's daughter, who will testify as soon as today, about various comments he made about Howard K. Stern back in 2007.

Birkhead made such comments to celebrity gossip outlets during the time he was battling Howard over custody of - and who was the father of - Dannielynn.

But Birkhead and Stern settled the custody dispute amicably after Larry was confirmed to be the father, and they have since been united on all things Anna.

Larry Birkhead, Dannielynn and a photographer go to the pumpkin patch.

So does Birkhead now back off his statements about Stern being an enabler? Does the prosecution call a witness who says the reverse of what they want?

It would be interesting, to say the least, if Birkhead backed off his story of Stern playing a harmful role in Anna's life now that their custody battle is over.

Doing a complete 180 seems like a stretch, but he could now say that some of the statements he made about Howard K. Stern were in the heat of battle.

In any case, Howard K. Stern, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich have pleaded not guilty to a grand total of 23 felony charges. Stay tuned.

Howard K. Stern, the former companion and wannabe baby daddy of Anna Nicole Smith, was arraigned today on 11 felony charges related to her drug use.

The charges include allegations that Stern, the late model's principal enabler, helped the Playboy model score opiate prescriptions using aliases, a major crime.

He is also accused of helping administer them.

Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, both of whom treated and allegedly prescribed drugs to Smith, were each arraigned on six felonies as well.

All three defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Howard K. Stern is in hot water over Anna Nicole Smith's death.

Howard's attorney, Steve Sadow, charges against his client "BS" at a press conference afterward, and claims that Anna Nicole Smith was "not an addict."

He says the medications given to Anna were prescribed for pain relief, and there therefore, she wasn't an addict. Not sure that adds up, Steve, but hey.

Anna Nicole's health was Howard's "main concern," his lawyer said.

Tuesday, a Los Angeles Times report described the death as a pharmacutical suicide. Like the Michael Jackson case, time will tell if a jury finds that the defendants below played criminal roles in Smith's death, however it's classified ...

Howard K. Stern, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and Dr. Sandeep Kapoor.

Howard K. Stern will have his day in court. Just not yet.

A judge has delayed the arraignment of Anna Nicole Smith's former lover on felony charges that he conspired with a pair of doctors to provide the model with hundreds of prescription drugs that led to her 2007 overdose.

Along with evil Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, Stern will enter his official plea on May 13.

At a news conference outside the courthouse, however, Stern's lawyer entered an unofficial plea:

"Howard is innocent," attorney Steve Sadow sad. "Let me repeat, he is innocent."

Howard, Howard, why are you such an awful person?

Principal enabler or media victim? Having been arrested as the former in the death of Anna Nicole Smith, her former lover will attempt to cast himself as the latter.

Howard K. Stern will "ultimately be exonerated," says his attorney, Krista Barth, about charges that Stern, along with two doctors, helped kill Anna Nicole by supplying the Playboy icon the prescription drugs that led to her fatal 2007 overdose.

Barth labeled the actions of California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who has brought conspiracy charges against Stern and Drs. Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich, "publicity efforts" and stressed her client's right to a free trial.

"The television, tabloid and Internet trial of Mr. Stern in the court of public opinion has been based upon sensational lies, speculation, rumor and gossip," said Barth.

"The media trial of Mr. Stern has been based on constant shouts of guilty from uninformed commentators based on inaccurate and often manufactured 'facts.'"

Barth has represented Stern for more than two years in civil suits stemming from Smith's death in Broward Country, Florida. She says Stern's accusers "have been shown to have no credibility due to their conflicting stories, to have a bias based on their own personal agendas or to have no factual basis to support their accusations."

Click to enlarge Howard K. Stern photos past and present ...

As previously reported, Howard K. Stern was arrested yesterday for conspiring to provide Anna Nicole Smith with the illegal narcotics that contributed to her death.

But it gets even worse for the former model's former lover: at a news conference today, California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Stern was "the principal enabler" of the thousands of prescription pills that led to Smith's 2007 death.

According to Brown, Stern conspired with Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich in "prescribing drugs excessively to a known addict and using false and fictitious names all in violation of the law and all in furtherance of a conspiracy."

Howard K. Stern and Dr. Sandeep Kapoor are seen here, mug shotted for all to see.

Why would Stern have gone to such dangerous lengths?

"There's a certain psychic gain here, part of the glitz the celebrity and the power," Brown said. "There's a lot of money floating around."

In related news, an investigation by The Hollywood Gossip found assbag Larry Birkhead to be the principal enabler of pimping out Dannielynn.

We wish we never had to write about someone as despicable as Howard K. Stern ever again.

But the ex-lover of Anna Nicole Smith has been arrested, more than two years after the model died of a drug overdose.

The man that once claimed to be the father of Smith's daughter Dannielynn has been charged with conspiring to furnish drugs to Annie Nicole prior to her death. He was arrested and booked in California yesterday; bail is set for $20,000.

Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich - a pair of doctors that allegedly, illegally prescribed medication to Smith - were also taken into custody, according to the L.A. County District Attorney's Office.

The conspiracy counts allege the trio of defendants conspired to deliver controlled substances to Smith during the three years leading up to her death in February 2007. Among other charges, they were arrested for "prescribing, administering or dispensing a controlled substance to an addict."

Time will tell if these men are guilty. But our staff will tell you this now: they suck as human beings.

Two years after Anna Nicole Smith's tragic death at the age of 39, there's still a void in the lives of the men who loved her most - and once waged a bitter war in which both were adamant in laying claim to Anna's infant daughter:

Howard K. Stern and Larry Birkhead.

"It's still hard for me to watch video of Anna, to see pictures of her and to know that she's gone," Stern said in an exclusive interview with E! News.

"For at least a year after Anna Nicole's death, I couldn't concentrate," Stern recalled. "I couldn't even focus on something for more than a couple of minutes at a time... For a long time I just wanted to die, literally."

While Smith's personal life was tabloid fodder, the passing of her 20-year-old son, Daniel Smith, in September 2006 and the custody battle over Dannielynn dominated headlines of both celebrity gossip and real news organizations.

"I kind of feel like it's my responsibility to try and undo what was done in the media to Anna after she passed," Stern said. "I want her to be remembered fondly. I want her legacy to be who she was, not what was put out there by the media."

The job of milking every last dollar out of polishing the image of Smith has also been taken up by Larry Birkhead, who was proven via DNA tests to be her baby daddy.

"One of my jobs in my personal life is to keep Anna's image alive," he said, adding that selling pics of being with his daughter is like being with Smith "all over again."

"I think I see a little bit of money everything," Birkhead said of Dannielynn's resemblance to her mom, "and it's really bittersweet because you have this person you lost, but then you have this pint-sized version of this person."

Follow the jump for pics of the late Anna Nicole and her two loves ...

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