Drug Abuse

A Bakersfield man with a history of drug abuse remained jailed Monday after allegedly biting out one of his 4-year-old son's eyes and mutilating the other. Angel Vidal Mendoza, 34, has been charged with mayhem, torture, child cruelty and inflicting an injury to a child in the alleged attack on his son. Bakersfield police said in a search warrant that the child told investigators, "My daddy ate my eyes." Police said Mendoza appeared to be under the influence of PCP after the April 28 incident.

Cpl. Stacy Wigand of the Unicoi County Sheriff's Department has long been accustomed to the prescription drug problem that plagues his mountain community in eastern Tennessee. But his discovery on a recent Friday night was indicative of the new wave of trouble sweeping through the hills and hollows of Appalachia -- trouble that is increasingly coming from sunny South Florida.

Swimmer Michael Phelps, who has won more gold medals than anyone in Olympic history, acknowledged Sunday he had engaged in "regrettable" behavior and shown "bad judgment" after a photo of him smoking what appears to be marijuana from a glass pipe was published in a British tabloid over the weekend.

Michael Jackson's death is unlikely to result in murder charges against any of the performer's doctors, according to a senior law enforcement official familiar with the evidence being assembled by a multiagency investigation. "There's nothing I have been told that would suggest a murder charge. It's just so remote and so unsupported by the facts as they've been gathered," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the probe is continuing.

For those who live in the tabloid cross hairs, the fake name is essential. Privacy-seeking celebrities have standard pseudonyms for checking into hotels, booking spa appointments, reserving restaurant tables, advertising for help and setting up visits to the doctor's office. But when those attempts at anonymity make their way beyond the exam room door and onto a prescription pad, a Hollywood convenience becomes a crime.

Rotting marijuana that Michael Jackson's family members mistook for heroin briefly caused detectives to look for further evidence of the illegal drug in the pop star's rented residence during the frenzied 48 hours after his death, according to sources close to the investigation. Family members told coroner's officials that they found "tar heroin" in the Holmby Hills home's master bedroom. Only Jackson and his children had access to the room, according to court records unsealed Thursday.

The Los Angeles Police Department has executed at least three search warrants in attempts to determine whether prescription medication played a role in Michael Jackson's death. Sources familiar with the investigation told The Times that the warrants were part of an effort to reconstruct the performer's medical history, a task made difficult by the number of physicians who treated him over the years.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office indefinitely delayed the release of Michael Jackson's autopsy results Thursday amid signs that police investigators were trying to determine the interplay between the pop star's personal physician and other medical professionals who treated Jackson in the months leading up to his death. Word of the delay followed a meeting between officials from the L.A.

Martina Hingis' attempt to cast doubt on the drug-testing process was rejected Friday by the International Tennis Federation, which suspended her for two years for testing positive for cocaine. Hingis, the former No. 1 who won five Grand Slam singles titles, retired a second time in November -- immediately after revealing that she had failed a test during Wimbledon last summer.

It will take up to two weeks to determine the cause of Heath Ledger's death, the New York City Medical Examiner's Office said Wednesday, but police were investigating the possibility of a drug overdose as additional details emerged about the discovery of the 28-year-old actor's body. Authorities said a rolled-up $20 bill was found near Ledger's body on the floor of his loft, and that one of the women who discovered him had phoned actress Mary-Kate Olsen before she called authorities.