SJ 'Max Muscle' Shop Caught In Steroid Sting
SAN JOSE, Calif. Sep.24 2007 (AP) - There is a South Bay connection to a massive international steroid bust which took place on Monday.
The DEA says that Operation Raw Deal is the largest steroid enforcement action in U.S. history. The two year multi agency sting involved nine countries.
The DEA showed off some of the photo evidence it had in the nation's biggest steroids sweep ranging 120 arrests with 11.4 million steroid doses and 500 pounds of raw powder from China used to manufacture steroids.
"Operation Raw Deal has shown how worldwide manufactures of the raw materials needed for steroids use websites and even provide guidance to potential customers," Says Agent Gordon Taylor, DEA Sacramento.
The DEA says it issued 143 search warrants nationwide to catch steroid manufactures and dealers. One of the busts involves the owner of a Max Muscle franchise in San Jose.
38-year-old Lance Tomlinson is in custody and no one at his store is answering any questions.
A 22-page criminal complaint outlines an undercover operation which nabbed three people including Lance Tomlinson and a relative who worked at Genetech named Brandon Tomlinson.
"They were in fact acquiring the human growth hormone from Genetech and selling it at Max Muscle store," says Michael Chapman, DEA Asst. Special Agent.
When agents arrested the three men in the Max Muscle case last week, they also seized 50 unmarked bottles of human growth hormone, 13 vials of steroids, and approximately 44 grams of crystal methamphetamine.
DEA agents say the South Bay case is unusual.
Operation Raw Deal shut down 56 labs across the country, most of them clandestine operations manufacturing steroids in filthy conditions and often peddling the illegal products over the internet.
"Operation Raw Deal seeks to shine a bright light on both the dangers of illegal steroid use and the sever consequences of illegally trading in it," said McGregor Scott, U.S. Attorney.
The three San Jose suspects from the Max Muscle bust each face up to five years in prison and a 250 thousand dollar fine.
Locally, Lance Tomlinson, 38, of San Jose, who owns Max Muscle Sports Nutrition in San Jose, and his brother, Brandon, 44, of Burlingame, who works at Genentech, are facing time in federal prison if they are convicted of conspiracy to possess and intent to distribute human growth hormone. One of Lance Tomlinson's employees, Jeffrey Coffron, 33, of San Jose was also charged.
Brandon Tomlinson was released on $100,000 bail; his brother is still in custody and is scheduled to appear in court today.
A married couple from Southern California, Larry Pollack and Lynda Wallace, were also nabbed as part of the local dragnet, spearheaded from the San Jose office of the DEA, and charged Sept. 17 with possession and intent to distribute steroids. It looks as though the couple and the brothers were fingered by the same confidential informant - an underground steroid lab operator.
None of the defendants could be reached for comment.
At Tomlinson's Muscle Max store on Meridian Avenue, an employee refused to comment. Muscle Max is a franchise with other locations in the Bay Area that aren't connected to Tomlinson.
