Several bottles of opioid painkillers - some of them prescribed to one of Prince's friends - were found at the singer's Paisley Park complex shortly after his death by accidental overdose, court documents unsealed Monday show.
According to another search warrant issued April 21, 2016, the same day Prince was found dead at his home in Chanhassen, Minnesota, investigators found several pills labeled "Watson 853" - hydrocodone-acetaminophen, sometimes called Vicodin - and capsules marked "A-349", which is Percocet, in different bottles in various locations in the residence. The day before Prince died, Paisley Park staffers contacted the California addiction specialist as they were trying to get Prince help.
Investigators heard plenty from the people at Paisley Park when Prince's body was discovered.
According to a search warrant, Schulenberg told investigators he saw Prince on April 7 and April 20, and prescribed medications for Prince to be picked up at a Walgreens pharmacy. They appear to reveal methods Prince was using to support and hide an addition to prescription painkillers. But there was a prescription for the opioid painkiller oxycodone written for Kirk Johnson, Prince's bodyguard.
Prince died at the age of 57.
He says authorities could charge Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg and Prince's friend, Kirk Johnson, with a low-level felony that wouldn't result in prison time. Oxycodone, the generic name for the active ingredient in OxyContin, was not listed as a cause of Prince's death. But Johnson hasn't talked to federal prosecutors, according to the official with knowledge of the investigation, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. Complaints typically take 90 to 120 days to resolve, she said.
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It's been almost a year since Prince died from an accidental drug overdose at his suburban Minneapolis estate, yet investigators still haven't interviewed a key associate or asked a grand jury to consider whether criminal charges are warranted, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation.
Investigators have said little publicly about the case over the past year, other than it is active.
Martinez of the Minnesota medical board said it's "quite infrequent" for a doctor to write out a prescription for someone in another person's name. Celebrities frequently use aliases in hospitals and doctor's offices. If questions remain six months from now, however, he said he'd question what law enforcement is doing. Doctors say the overdose was an accident.
"They would be indicting every pharmacist in Beverly Hills if this were strictly enforced", Garofalo said Monday.
"Say you have a major male actor who has a prescription for Viagra, do you want that out on TMZ?"
Amy Forliti and Doug Glass contributed from Minneapolis.
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