Bodog Beat

Howard K. Stern has been charged with eight felonies. (AP Images)

The death of Anna Nicole Smith was not only a media circus, but a tangled, sordid tale of opportunists and drug addiction. Anna Nicole's long-time friend Howard K. Stern, who once lay claim to her child, Dannielynn (later found via paternity test to be fathered by Smith's one-time boyfriend Larry Birkhead) has always been a suspicious dude involved in the case.

Shortly after Smith's death, footage emerged that depicted a pregnant and wasted Anna Nicole Smith confused and disoriented being filmed by a taunting Howard. K Stern. In the brief film, a pregnant Anna Nicole Smith talks to a doll in carriage while Howard asks her if she's on a "mushroom trip." With her face painted like a clown, Howard zooms in at Anna's dazed expression and says, "This footage is worth money."

To make matters worse for Stern, Anna Nicole's bodyguard, Maurice Brighthaupt, who was with her on the day she died, claimed that Stern had been acting "highly strange" hours before she collapsed in a Florida hotel room. He is also believed to have said that Stern administered her "some types of drugs" in the months leading to her collapse.

There was also the strange accidental overdose of Smith's son, Daniel. Rumors that Stern may have contributed to Daniel's death by providing the 20-year-old with methadone were circulating. One witness testified at the coroner's inquest into Daniel's death that Stern supplied Daniel with methadone and then flushed the remaining stash down a toilet after Daniel died. Moreover, just days after Smith's death, Stern reportedly made a cool $1-million by giving a "tell-all" interview to Entertainment Tonight.

And although both deaths had been ruled accidental, yesterday Stern along with two other doctors Dr. Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich were charged with a total of eight felonies in relation to Anna Nicole Smith's death. Among the eight charges are "prescribing, administering or dispensing a controlled substance to an addict."

Bail was set at $20,000 for each defendant and TMZ reports that both Stern and Kapoor bailed out Thursday night.