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DANBURY -- A city man and professional bodybuilder who authorities say has ties to an area steroids distribution ring under federal investigation was accepted into a drug education program during an appearance at state Superior Court Friday.
Philip "PJ" Braun, 30, who claims to be friends with Bethel resident Mark Mansa, the reputed head of the operation, was arrested in April after local detectives and a federal drug agent went to his Pembrook Avenue condo to serve him with an arrest warrant.
At the time, police said they saw narcotics, including the prescription painkiller Percocet, and steroids in plain sight at Braun's residence.
Braun is facing several charges, including possession of narcotics and possession of steroids.
The charges against the bodybuilder would be dropped next year if he completes the drug education program, a diversionary program available to first-time offenders that includes counseling and community service.
According to the arrest warrant, Braun came to the attention of authorities in September 2010 when Mansa helped him purchase steroids from a cooperating witness known as "Weirdo Steve."
The witness told authorities that he had been manufacturing steroids and had been supplying them to Braun, Mansa and others for at least six years.
Mansa and three other men, including Brookfield resident Glenn Wagner, were arrested on federal drug charges in February for their alleged involvement in a large-scale ring that sold both marijuana and steroids to clients in the Greater Danbury area.
Prosecutors allege that the group sold more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana in 2009 alone, and that Mansa, the only defendant charged with steroid sales, had clients who included area high school students.
While state court documents refer to the cooperating witness who allegedly sold steroids to Braun and Mansa only as "Weirdo Steve," documents in the federal court case indicated that he is Steven Johnson of Lake Avenue, who was arrested in 2009 for allegedly running an Ecstasy lab in his Danbury apartment.
The state charges against Johnson were dropped last fall after court officials said he was being prosecuted as part of a federal case.
Federal authorities earlier this year confirmed that Johnson was arrested on narcotics charges, but his file in the case is sealed and a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office decline to comment on whether the charges are related to the Mansa investigation.
While Johnson denied any association with Mansa when contacted by The News-Times earlier this year, federal court documents said that he told federal authorities he had been selling Mansa at least 70 steroid bottles a month since 2004.
The cases against Mansa and Wagner are still pending.
