http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=17&articleid=20090812_11_0_ABxybd22927&rss_lnk=11A local bodybuilder who is tied to a steroid ring pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of distributing Proviron, an anabolic steroid. During a hearing before U.S. Chief District Judge Claire Eagan, Guy Marc Ducasse, 46, pleaded guilty to distributing the drug in 2006.
Ducasse said he gave it to his dentist, who he said was also his friend. However, he denied selling the drugs to the dentist. Assistant U.S. Attorney Janet Reincke said several witnesses are willing to testify that Ducasse sold them drugs.
Ducasse will be sentenced Nov 13 and faces a maximum of five years in prison. Ducasse has competed in international and professional bodybuilding competitions since 1986, according to bodybuilding Web sites. Officers seized anabolic steroids and human growth hormone at the home where Ducasse had been living in the 7500 block of East 88th Street on March 25, 2008.
A special agent with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control office in Tulsa and an undercover officer in the Tulsa Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit found in the trash outside the home syringes, needles and vials that indicated use of the illegal performance-enhancement drugs, the records state. Tips indicated that Ducasse had received mailed packages of steroids and human growth hormone from Florida and Mexico to sell to clients, according to an affidavit filed in Tulsa County District Court.
Since December 2007, state and local undercover officers have investigated widespread steroid use and distribution in
the Tulsa area, including at a fitness center formerly known as Physical Edge, 6339 E. 71st St., according to court records. Approximately 250 vials of illegal steroids and human growth hormone were linked to the south Tulsa fitness center and its owner during a drug investigation.
The owner, Christopher Phillip Goodman of Broken Arrow, was named by undercover officers as a major steroid, human growth hormone and performance-enhancement drug distributor in the Tulsa area, according to court records. Goodman was charged with four counts of distribution of steroids and one count of possession of steroids with intent to distribute. He pleaded guilty June 24 to only the latter charge.
Eagan is scheduled to sentence him on Sept. 28. Goodman and Ducasse were charged in separate federal indictments in April. Goodman could face up to five years in prison; however, similar cases in Tulsa federal court have resulted in sentences of probation. His attorney, Paul Brunton, said Wednesday evening that the sentencing guidelines in his client’s case have yet to be determined but that he hopes Goodman will receive probation.
World Staff Writer David Harper contributed to this story.
