Police nab 16 in suburban steroids ring
Assistant high school grid coach accused of manufacture, sales
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
BY MARGARET McHUGH AND BILL SWAYZE
Star-Ledger Staff
Sixteen people were arrested and more than $100,000 in drugs along with more than $20,000 in cash were seized after a steroid manufacturing and distribution business run by two alumni of Hanover Park High School was shut down, authorities announced yesterday.
Anthony Cuppari, a volunteer assistant coach to the school's football team, and Michael Dente, both 24 and from East Hanover, were charged with using Dente's basement to manufacture the muscle-building drug. The long-time friends and bodybuilders were later released on $100,000 bail.
Among those arrested for allegedly purchasing steroids and related drugs was a 17-year-old member of the Hanover Park High football team, police said.
Morris County Prosecutor Michael M. Rubbinaccio said authorities found a "fully functional lab," complete with a pill press, in the McKinley Avenue home Dente shares with his father, Ben. Also seized were enough ingredients -- from China and Greece -- to make 35,000 doses of steroids, he said.
"They are dead wrong," said Ben Dente. "It's all BS. There's no manufacturing here. It's not a factory and there was no buying or selling in my house."
At Cuppari's home on Hillside Drive , authorities said, they found drugs valued at more than $5,000 plus $11,493 in cash believed to be proceeds from drug sales. A woman who answered the door yesterday told a reporter to leave.
Professional bodybuilder Jason Arntz, 35, of South Brunswick provided the expertise for manufacturing the steroids, although Cuppari and Dente also got information off the Web, Rubbinaccio said. Charged with one count of conspiracy to manufacture steroids, Arntz was released on $50,000 bail.
The other 13 suspects, including the high school football player, were charged as customers, police said. Also seized in raids and arrests that began Friday and ended Sunday were other drugs, including cocaine and Cialis, a dozen vehicles and weapons valued at about $200,000 combined, according to authorities. Larry Zhou, 23, of East Hanover is charged with providing cocaine to Cuppari, and Joseph Monticello, 21, of East Hanover is charged with selling drugs to others, authorities said.
Cuppari, a personal trainer at Planet Gym in Florham Park , graduated from Hanover Park in 2000. A former running back, he ran for 22 touchdowns during his senior year, contributing to the team's 11-1 record. Cuppari served as a volunteer assistant coach last season, starting midway in the season and continuing into November, school officials said. The Hornets finished 7-4 and reached the state playoffs.
This is the first year the state has held random steroid testing of selected teams that reach the postseason. It is not known whether Hanover Park was tested, although the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, the governing body of high school sports in the state, said all the tests from the fall came back negative.
Rubbinaccio said he had no specific information on steroids being sold out of Planet Gym. The owner and manager declined comment.
Authorities continue to look into possible steroid use by student athletes, police said.
Principal Edward Franko and Acting Superintendent Karl Mundi said they did not believe any football player was using steroids at the East Hanover high school, which enrolls students from East Hanover and Florham Park. They also said they could think of no player who grew hugely from one season to the next.
A certified trainer on the team is trained to spot any changes of that nature.
"If we had any indication of that, we would have taken action on our own," Mundi said. "We were not aware of that."
After overdose deaths of three recent graduates last summer and fall, the Hanover Park regional district plans to start random drug testing this fall. "Operation Painkiller" -- a July oxycodone drug bust that charged more than 50 teenagers and young adults in Hanover , East Hanover and Florham Park -- also played a role in moving administrators and board members to commit to random drug testing.
Unlike Operation Painkiller, Mundi and Franko said they only learned about the weekend raids after they occurred via a courtesy phone call from authorities.
Cuppari and Dente also were accused of manufacturing gamma hydroxybuterate (GHB), infamous as a "date rape" drug, but also used by bodybuilders to counteract the side effects of steroids, such as trouble sleeping and anger, Rubbinaccio said. The 17-year-old is accused of buying GHB from Cuppari, police said.
Authorities said they believe the two were gearing up to make the painkillers oxycodone and Percocet, as well as the prescription medicine Cialis, which helps with erectile dysfunction.
Florham Park Police Chief Kim Chapman said patrol officers in the three towns began getting wind of steroids being sold in the area in November.
Dente graduated from Hanover Park in 2001. Like Cuppari, he has a MySpace page that shows him flexing. According to his profile on his MySpace page, he works for World Wide Financial Resources in Monmouth County .
Arntz's professional bodybuilding homepage on the Internet says he is a licensed mortgage broker and a member of the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness. He earned his professional bodybuilding card in 1988 and has placed first in several championships, including the National Physique Committee USA Championships.
