Pablo Montero Raises Court Suspicion

      On Tuesday, Pablo Montero’s lawyer presented a report in a Florida court indicating that the Mexican singer is complying with the conditions of a monitoring program following his August arrest in the state. Montero had the option of doing the program in order to have a cocaine possession charge against him dropped.

      As part of an agreement between the prosecution and defense, the 33-year-old singeris required to complete the program, which includes classes about drug and alcohol abuse and twice-weekly drug tests, by August 2008. According to Notimex news agency, lawyer Howard Srebnick said that his client, whose real name is Óscar Daniel Hernández, is dedicated to completing the program he’s been doing for the past four months.

      But Judge Jeffrey Rosinek wasn’t convinced during the hearing, saying that he had some “concerns” about the report. Rosinek questioned its format and the dates of the drug tests tracked on the report, noting that on days the singer was supposedly tested in Los Angeles, he was actually in Mexico.

      Srebnick explained that the doctor in charge of the urine tests visits Montero in Mexico, where he’s filming a telenovela, and then takes the samples to Los Angeles on the same day to do the tests.

      The lawyer noted that the singer, who takes the tests under the alias Danny Rodríguez to protect confidentiality, is “very satisfied” with his progress.

      The next hearing between Srebnick and Rosinek is scheduled for Feb. 26.