Getbig Bodybuilding Boards > Steroids Info & Hardcore
* IN THE NEWS *
El Diablo Blanco:
Seems this legit way of getting prescription steroids are getting shut down.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/02/27/steroid.raid/index.html
Rimbaud:
NOTE: from yahoo news
Prosecutor: Athletes received illegal steroids in online ring
By TRAVIS REED, Associated Press Writer
February 28, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Athletes were involved as customers of an illicit steroid distribution network that led authorities to raid two facilities and arrest four company officials, a New York prosecutor said.
Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares refused to name any steroid recipients, saying prosecutors were focused on producers and distributors.
"I understand that the involvement of athletes and celebrities makes this a sexy story, but I assure you we are not, at this point, we are not concerned with the celebrity factor," Soares said. "Our focus here is to shut down distribution channels."
Soares was in Florida on Tuesday for raids conducted by federal and state agents at two Signature Pharmacy stores. Four company officials, including a married couple who are both pharmacists, were arrested. They were charged with criminal diversion of prescription medications and prescriptions, criminal sale of a controlled substance and insurance fraud.
Soares refused to answer most questions about the case, which involves sealed indictments.
"I cannot elaborate any more and I cannot provide you with any more details without compromising an investigation which even at this point is at a very sensitive stage," he said.
The Times Union of Albany, N.Y., first disclosed the steroid investigation in a report citing unidentified sources. The newspaper said investigators found evidence that testosterone and other performance-enhancing drugs may have been fraudulently prescribed over the Internet to current and former Major League Baseball and NFL players, college athletes, high school coaches, a former Mr. Olympia champion and another top contender in the bodybuilding competition.
Customers include Angels outfielder Gary Matthews Jr., according to the Times Union, which cited unidentified sources with knowledge of the investigation.
Angels spokesman Tim Mead told The Associated Press the team was aware of the story, adding, "That's the only information we have."
Mead said manager Mike Scioscia told Matthews about it, and that general manager Bill Stoneman and Mead spoke to Matthews. An attempt by the AP to reach Matthews by phone Tuesday night was unsuccessful.
"We strongly recommended that Gary inform his agent and make sure he's aware as well," Mead said. "The information is sketchy at best."
The paper said a New York investigator flew to Pittsburgh last month to interview a physician for the Pittsburgh Steelers about why he allegedly used a personal credit card to purchase roughly $150,000 in testosterone and human growth hormone in 2006.
The physician, Richard A. Rydze, told the investigator the drugs were for his private patients, the paper said, citing an unidentified person briefed on the interview.
There are no allegations Rydze violated any laws.
Steelers spokesman Dave Lockett told the AP that Rydze works for the club mostly on game days. He is listed among the seven doctors under the "medical staff" designation on the official team employment roster.
"We can't comment any further because we are still gathering information," Lockett said.
A message was left seeking comment from Rydze.
Arrested on Tuesday were Stan and Naomi Loomis, who own the Signature Pharmacy in downtown Orlando, Stan's brother Mike Loomis and Kirk Calvert, Signature's marketing director. Soares' office identified Signature as a "producer" of the illegally distributed drugs.
Also arrested as a result of the New York investigation were three people Soares' office described as "distributors" from a Sugarland, Texas, company called Cellular Nucleonic Advantage.
Before the investigation is complete, Soares' office said, up to 24 people could face charges, including six doctors and three pharmacists.
The Loomis' downtown pharmacy contains a small retail store that sells bodybuilding supplements, a drug laboratory and executive offices.
Investigators loaded boxes into a truck and seized drugs, including anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, said Carl Metzger, narcotics commander for Orlando's Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation.
"I can't tell you what percentage of their business was legal and how much involved stacking steroids, but there was a mix," Metzger said.
Metzger said the search revealed a "raid card" at numerous Signature Pharmacy employees' desks with contact information for lawyers. The top of the documents identified it as a Food and Drug Administration/Drug Enforcement Agency telephone list, but only lawyers were on the card, Metzger said.
"We found that to be somewhat interesting," Metzger said. "Why would you need to have something entitled a phone call list for the DEA and FDA with lawyers' names if you have nothing to hide?"
Soares' office alleges that Signature filled prescriptions, in some cases from unlicensed doctors, knowing they had not met patients. The office said at least $250,000 in illegal and controlled substances were sold directly into Albany County, and New York state sales exceeded $10 million.
Soares said his investigation began after an Albany doctor was arrested for allegedly trafficking in narcotics online.
Updated on Wednesday, Feb 28, 2007 3:07 am EST
ariton:
Rocker says he didn't have HGH prescription
By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press Writer
March 7, 2007
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Former major league relief pitcher John Rocker told ESPN Radio on Wednesday he never bought human growth hormone with a prescription.
On Tuesday, SI.com reported Rocker showed up on a client list of Applied Pharmacy, a Mobile, Ala., company raided in connection with a nationwide investigation into the illegal sale of steroids.
"I never had a prescription for any HGH," Rocker told ESPN Radio's "The Herd." "If somebody's got a beef to make with me, show me a prescription."
SI.com reported Rocker received two prescriptions for somatropin, a form of HGH, between April and July 2003.
"I was trying to pitch all the way up until a week before I had my surgery. And obviously feeling as bad as I was, I called every doctor I could (to find out) what can I do to strengthen my shoulder and give me more arm strength,' Rocker told ESPN Radio. "Every one of them said go to a GNC, buy something over the counter, human growth hormone, these very several amino acids ... basically (that) is the way it's done."
Rocker's publicist told the Daily News the pitcher admitted taking HGH, now banned by Major League Baseball, for medical reasons.
"That was a growth hormone that was prescribed by a doctor in relation to his rotator cuff surgery in 2003, so I don't really think there is anything to the story," publicist Debi Curzio said in Wednesday's editions.
SI.com also reported that major leaguer David Bell, 1996 Olympic wrestling gold-medalist Kurt Angle, and Victor Martinez, winner of the latest Ohio bodybuilding competition named for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, were Applied Pharmacy clients.
Bell told SI.com he received the shipment of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) last April but said the drug was prescribed "for a medical condition," which he declined to disclose.
As additional athletes were linked to the scandal, two more people were arraigned Tuesday on drug-related charges.
Steven and Karen Lampert of Anti-Aging Centers in Nanuet pleaded not guilty in an Albany County, N.Y., courtroom and were released without bail. They are charged with submitting prescriptions to a Florida pharmacy -- some "obviously forged" according to the district attorney -- for drugs totaling more than $50,000 for people without a medical need.
Steven Lampert is charged with 20 counts, his wife with two.
"It seems as though our clients have much less involvement than the others," said Jay Golland, a lawyer for Karen Lampert.
Prosecutors describe the Lamperts as "criminal associates" of Signature Pharmacy in Orlando, Fla. Albany County District Attorney David Soares says Signature was at the center of a web of businesses and doctors that illegally wrote prescriptions for steroids.
The arraignments come a day after not guilty pleas were entered in Albany by 11 other defendants, including four Signature Pharmacy officials.
Soares acknowledged that Martinez was an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the case and is linked to the Lamperts' Anti-Aging Centers. Martinez won the Arnold Classic bodybuilding competition Saturday in Ohio.
A spokesman for Schwarzenegger said he wants bodybuilders to stop using steroids.
"He's clearly opposed to these steroids," said Aaron McLear. "And he's working with top officials in the bodybuilding community to come up with a system where they rid the sport of steroids."
Martinez told The New York Times he bought testosterone from the Lamperts after their clinic told him he had low levels of the hormone. He also said the company asked him to become a partner, but he declined.
"I didn't trust them, and other people were warning me not to do business with them," he told the Times.
Calls placed by The Associated Press to Jim Lorimer, a bodybuilding promoter and co-creator of the Arnold Classic, were not immediately returned.
Updated on Wednesday, Mar 7, 2007 1:40 pm EST
trab:
http://health.msn.com/centers/mensexualhealth/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100134953
There's a pile of other info in related stories with this one.
Basicly the SMART Docs are saying...Look this is reversible in time. Vassectomy NOT!
I saw some new breast cancer drug yesterday by Glaxo Smith also in the news. Not sure what it was about.
Deadpool:
last month in Canton, MA. That's right near me. I will find the link and post it. This guy's supposed to be a big supplier too. Maybe that's why Craig and Kelly got caught the next town over in Stoughton, MA?
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