Suspect arrested in prescription drug ring linked to Corey Haim
The California attorney general’s office said Wednesday that it has arrested a suspect in an alleged prescription drug ring that Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown said provided illegal drugs to actor Corey Haim.
Haim was found unresponsive last week at his mother’s apartment. He later died at a hospital in what Los Angeles Police Department officials said appeared to be an accidental overdose.
Brown announced Friday that his office was investigating a “massive†drug ring that provided prescriptions for Haim.
Christine Gasparac, a spokeswoman for the attorney general, would not identify the suspect, saying the case was ongoing.
“I can confirm there has been an arrest, but I have no other details,†she said.
Gasparac added that the investigation began well before Haim’s death and that the suspect may not have directly provided the drugs that caused the death of the 1980s teen actor.
Brown has said that an unauthorized prescription under Haim’s name was found during an ongoing investigation of fraudulent prescription drug pads ordered from a San Diego vendor. So far, investigators have uncovered about 5,000 fraudulent prescriptions linked to the drug ring, Brown said.
The drug ring operates by using stolen doctor identities to order prescription drug pads from authorized sellers. The prescription forms are then sold on the street to addicts or drug dealers who have them filled at pharmacies. Doctors whose names are used on the prescriptions are usually unaware that their identities have been stolen.
The attorney general’s office has focused resources in the last few years on prescription drug rings that provide fake prescriptions to Hollywood figures.
Model Anna Nicole Smith’s boyfriend and two of her doctors were charged with repeatedly supplying the former Playboy centerfold with addictive prescription drugs since 2004, nearly three years before she died of an overdose, authorities said.
Brown also has said that singer Michael Jackson received prescription drugs under various names.
Haim was a teen star in the 1980s in such movies as “The Lost Boys†and “License to Drive.â€
He struggled with drug problems but in recent years had attempted a comeback, starring in an A&E reality show called “The Two Coreys†with longtime friend and costar Corey Feldman.
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