Updated: Feb. 27, 2007, 3:46 PM ET
NY investigation leads to raid of Orlando pharmacyAssociated Press
Federal and state narcotics agents raided a downtown Orlando pharmacy Tuesday as part of a New York state investigation into the sale of steroids and other performance enhancers over the Internet, according to a published report.
The Albany, N.Y., Times Union reported investigators expected to arrest more than two dozen doctors, pharmacists and business owners on sealed indictments charging them with various felonies for unlawfully distributing steroids and other controlled substances, court records show.
Tuesday's raid of Signature Pharmacy, which did about $36 million in business last year, could expose a long list of sports figures, celebrities and others who have turned to Internet pharmacies for illegal drugs such as steroids, law enforcement authorities told the newspaper.
Albany County District Attorney David Soares said his office pursued the case, in part, because New York has some of the strictest prescription drug laws in the country. In addition, Signature Pharmacy last year did an estimated $6 million in business in New York, he said.
"We're arresting young men on street corners every day for selling drugs," he told the newspaper. "Signature did $30 million last year ... $250,000 in Albany County."
The Associated Press could not immediately reach Soares, who was in Orlando.
The Times Union reported that investigators in the year-old case uncovered 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 usually have to pay high retail prices for their drugs, in part because many purchasers avoid seeking reimbursement from insurance carriers to avoid detection.
Mostly, they use cash, checks and credit cards to pay for the drugs.
"It's a complete perversion of the medical system," Christopher Baynes, an Albany County prosecutor assigned exclusively to the case for almost a year, told the Times Union.
Some companies have enlisted unethical doctors who blindly write prescriptions for as little as $25 each, according to court documents filed in Albany, Orlando and in a related federal case in Rhode Island.
The Orlando pharmacy is owned and operated by a Florida couple, Stan and Naomi Loomis, who are both licensed pharmacists. In 2002, the company reported revenue of about $500,000. Revenue topped $35 million last year, authorities told the newspaper. The pharmacy's phone was repeatedly busy Tuesday and a correct phone listing for the couple could not be found.
The pharmacy contains a small retail store that sells mostly bodybuilding supplements, a high-tech drug-manufacturing laboratory and executive offices on the second floor. A mix of federal and state agents spent Tuesday removing computers and records from Signature's offices, the paper reported.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
