Red Line UG lab busted in Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Cleveland County Sheriff's Office shut down a large steroid lab and arrested three people after a two month investigation.

A search warrant was obtained for a home, located at 417 Madison Ct. Inside the home, agents found steroid powder, liquid steroid compounds, unused glass vials, vial sealer, scales, unused pill capsules, pill capsule presses, syringes, drug ledgers, and labeling equipment capable of producing hundreds of vials of steroids.

"There is tremendous black market for steroids within certain bodybuilding circles throughout Oklahoma," said OBN spokesperson Mark Woodward in a press release.

Woodward said Dakota Epperly, 23, Marcus Wade, 26, and Cortny Choate, 20, were arrested Wednesday in connection with the steroids manufacturing and distribution. They were booked into the Cleveland County jail and face charges of Conspiracy to Manufacture CDS Steroids and Possession of CDS Steroids with Intent to Distribute. The penalties carry up to life in prison. Additional charges of violating the Oklahoma Drug Money Laundering/Wire Transmitter Act may also be filed in the case.

During the investigation, Woodward said undercover agents bought steroids from the suspects, as well as some Ecstasy and cocaine.

The steroid powder was being ordered on-line from China. Upon arrival, the suspects would use other components to convert the powder to finished steroids then sell the vials to bodybuilders in the Oklahoma City area and on the west coast.

Woodward said the drugs were manufactured as their own brand of steroids called "Red Line."

According to Woodward, additional arrests are possible as the investigation continues into those purchasing the "Red Line" steroids.

Further story coverage :-

Three Moore residents were arrested on multiple felony complaints after authorities raided a home-based steroids lab, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control spokesman Mark Woodward said today.

Dakota Epperly, 23, Marcus Wade, 26, and Cortny Choate, 19, are in Cleveland County jail on complaints of conspiracy to manufacture steroids and possession of steroids with intent to distribute, Woodward said.

They were arrested Wednesday after bureau agents and Cleveland County sheriff's deputies executed a search warrant at 417 Madison Court.

Agents said they found steroid powder, liquid steroid compounds, unused glass vials, a vial sealer, scales, unused pill capsules, pill capsule presses, syringes, drug ledgers and labeling equipment during the search, Woodward said. The three appeared to be manufacturing their own brand of steroids called "Red Line," he said.

Agents made undercover buys during an investigation, Woodward said. Investigators think the steroid powder was ordered online from China, and they would use other materials to convert the powder to a finished product.

Forum pics ( all from the same user based on file names ) :-

Long-term anabolic steroid use may weaken heart more than previously thought.

Anabolic-androgenic steroids mimic the naturally occurring testosterone, a muscle-building hormone that promotes male sexual characteristics.

“Anabolic steroids, in addition to being illegal, have important health consequences,” said Aaron L. Baggish, M.D., lead author of the study and instructor in the Department of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “I think for the first time we’re starting to realize that the heart is one of the organs that is negatively impacted by long-term steroid use.”

In the small study, investigators found that the left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber, was significantly weaker during contraction (systolic function) in participants who had taken steroids compared to a group of similar non-steroid users.

A healthy left ventricle pumps out 55 percent to 70 percent of the blood that fills the heart (a measurement known as ejection fraction). Eighty-three percent of steroid users in the 12-person study had a low pumping capacity (ejection fraction less than 55 percent) that previous studies have linked to increased risk of heart failure and sudden cardiac death. In contrast, only one of the non-steroid users had a low ejection fraction.

Steroid users also exhibited impaired diastolic function, which is when the left ventricle relaxes and fills with blood. The researchers showed that ventricle relaxation among steroid users, as demonstrated by the left ventricle’s ratio of early-to-late blood filling, was reduced by almost half (0.93 compared with 1.80 among non-users). The left ventricle’s structure was similar in both steroid-users and non-users.

Baggish and his co-investigators used a technique known as Doppler echocardiography to examine the left ventricle’s function and structure. The test uses high-frequency sound waves, or ultrasound, to create moving pictures of the heart and its blood flow.

The steroid-using group included 12 male weight lifters, average age 40, who reported taking about 675 milligrams of steroids per week for nine years. The control group was seven age-matched, male weight lifters who reported no steroid exposure. Both groups had similar durations of past and current weight lifting and other physical activity, as well as similar cardiac risk factors other than steroid use. Although the users and non-users had comparable body-mass indices and body-surface areas, the steroid users had more muscle mass than the non-users.

( If you are running Anabolic Steroids for 9 years the chances you are using just 675mg a week are pretty low so either the users were lying or the figures over 9 years have been averaged, sadly I can't access the full study to confirm )

Despite the small sample size, the statistically significant differences in heart function suggest a strong link between steroid use and heart impairment, said investigators who are conducting further studies to confirm their findings.

In previous studies, the precise effects of steroid use on heart dysfunction have been unclear. Part of the problem with conducting studies of steroid-related heart injury is that illegal anabolic steroid use is relatively recent. In the United States, these drugs first became widespread among athletes in the 1980s; so many steroid users from that era are now reaching the age when heart problems often surface.

“What we hope is that people start recognizing steroid use as a potential cause of heart disease and a cause of otherwise unexplained heart dysfunction in young people,” Baggish said.

Ex-cop sentenced for steroids.

A former Creek Nation Lighthorseman was sentenced Tuesday to probation for possession with intent to distribute steroids.

Jimmy Russell Hamm II, also known as “Rusty,” 31, was sentenced to 24 months of probation, with four months of that time on home detention, for drug possession with intent to distribute anabolic steroids, according to a media release from Sheldon J. Sperling, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

Charges arose from an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Hamm, 31, was indicted in August and pleaded guilty in September.

Hamm and Dusty Burns, 29, of Checotah were co-defendants in a sealed indictment returned by the grand jury on Aug. 11. Both men had been charge

FDA makes controlled deliverey of HGH to private PO box.

A Covington man has been arrested for possession of 100 vials of human growth hormone after ordering the steroids from Europe and having them delivered by the U.S. Postal Service, authorities said.

Jarrod Jemison, 28, 504 W. 19th Ave., is booked with possession with intent to distribute a legend drug without a prescription, possession of Schedule IV narcotics and possession of drug paraphernalia. The arrest was made March 29, but the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office only announced it Tuesday.

The Sheriff's Office's Narcotics Division conducted the investigation with the help of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Detectives with the Sheriff's Office learned that the parcel had been intercepted in California on its way to Covington and worked with agents from the FDA to deliver the package to a shipping store in Covington, according to a news release from the Sheriff's Office.

The detectives then conducted surveillance on the business and waited for Jemison to arrive. He showed up about 15 minutes later and retrieved the package containing the hormones, valued at $2,000, the release said.

Detectives followed Jemison to his home on W. 19th Avenue. Upon arrival, the detectives, along with the FDA agents, took Jemison into custody, according to the release. Authorities served a search warrant at the home and recovered additional HGH vials and suspected Valium tablets, the Sheriff's Office said.

Jemison was released March 30 from the St. Tammany Parish jail on $15,000 bond.

Four years after Italy's Operation Athena charges are finally made.

Four years after the ‘Operazione Athena’ began, former Vuelta a España stage winner Luca Paolini and 28 others have been charged in relation to a doping network and will face trial in Bergamo, northern Italy.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, a first hearing will take place on May 7th, with the full trial due to start eighteen days later.

Also charged are the retired rider Eddy Mazzoleni, third in the 2007 Giro d’Italia, and his wife Elisa Basso. She is the sister of Ivan Basso, who is not himself implicated in the affair.

Operacion Athena began with the aim of curbing doping products in fitness centres in Como and Bergamo. Investigators seized drugs and evidence worth six million euro, including several types of anabolic steroids, ephedrine, amphetamines, growth hormone, EPO and gonadotrophin.

Paolini faces charges of buying and taking drugs, including the banned blood booster Erythropoietin (EPO), as well as receiving stolen goods. The crimes date back to July 2005. His home was searched shortly before he competed in the world championships in Salzburg in September 2006, where he helped Paolo Bettini take the rainbow jersey.

Apart from his Vuelta stage win, he took third in the 2007 Tour of Flanders while racing with Liquigas. He moved to Acqua & Sapone for the 2008 season and since then he has taken wins in the Trofeo Laigueglia, Coppa Placci and Coppa Bernocchi, as well as taking the points classification in the 2010 Three Days of De Panne.

Elisa Basso is accused of dealing in illicit drugs and doping substances.

Mazzoleni quit the sport in the spring of 2008 following the imposition of a two-year ban that related to the separate Oil for Drugs inquiry. He has since gone into the restaurant business.

British newspaper investigates China's most famous "research chem/legal high" lab.

( these are the story highlights that are relevant to this blog )

Young, rich and brimming with energy, Eric embodies the entrepreneurial spirit of modern China. He sits at his desk beneath a cabinet of spirits and cigars that he dispenses liberally to his overseas clients while secretaries totter in and out carrying samples and price lists.

Eric, 35, wears designer clothes, drives a Buick SUV and works such long hours his wife moans that he treats the luxury villa where they live like a hotel. But for all his infectious charm as he chats and jokes at his offi ce in an up-market Shanghai apartment block, there is a sinister side to the business that has made this chemistry graduate conspicuously wealthy.

With a laboratory near the city's international airport (whose neighbours include offices of Glaxo Smith Kline, Novartis and Astra Zeneca) and a factory with 65 workers three hours from Shanghai, Eric claims his company manufactures and ships hundreds of kilograms of drugs to Britain every week.

Despite the ban on mephedrone and other related-compounds, Eric and many other Chinese businessmen like him are ahead of the game. They beat customs controls using know-how and corruption and are creating and preparing new drugs that will deliberately dodge our classifications and continue to offer profitable, legal kicks in the UK.

Posing as customers, we were shown around his laboratory and witnessed a sophisticated and ruthless export industry that is indifferent to the harm and addiction its products cause. It is driven instead by modern China's guiding light: money.

UK customs have recently been very strict and lots of packages from China and India are stopped and seized. It is in the media and on the TV and a lot of our customers are worried. But we assure them there is no risk for them.'

He then reveals how his company has already been avoiding customs checks in the UK by sending packages into Britain via 'soft' third countries in the EU.

'We have agents in Europe so we can send to Ireland, Austria, Spain and Italy. Then the package will be re-sent to the UK from those countries. If the package comes from outside Europe there might be trouble. Within Europe, the UK customs normally will not check.'

Even if the packages were stopped, he promises us, the orders would be honoured.

'If it is stopped we always refund or reship. That is why we have so many customers in the UK. There is no risk for them.'

Eric's company sends its drugs to Britain by express courier. At the entrance to his office, barrels of MDPV - a potent and addictive stimulant that was banned along with mephedrone on April 16 - are piled up alongside dozens of one-kilo packages sitting ready to be taken to the airport.

Posing as large, London-based wholesalers of legal highs, we had insisted on a visit to the lab before making our order - for 10kg of MDPV every month for a year. Eric says our order is almost laughably small: 'It amounts to 120kg a year. I have that much in my office now. Every month we produce two tons.'

However, our order still amounts to 200,000 doses monthly, and 2.4 million doses annually.

Even with shipment via a European country, packages are delivered in three to four days from the time payment hits his account, he says, adding with a knowing grin: 'Some packages we send directly to the UK. We have our own methods.'

The boom in demand for legal highs in the UK has generated a huge new revenue stream for Eric's company.

'It has all happened in the past two years and the demand from the UK and other countries just keeps increasing,' he says.

Set up seven years ago, his lab was already doing brisk international business turning out five or six new generic drugs a year for worldwide sales. These ranged from anti-retroviral drugs for HIV sufferers and heart-disease drugs to fake Viagra.

Eric said there was no problem in continuing to send the drug to the UK, promising to fulfil our 12-month order. What's more, Eric told us that he is developing a new drug to ship to the UK after this month's ban.

At his company's laboratory, the size of a small flat, a team of young scientists in white coats and face masks work on new formulas. Dipping his nose into a sample bag of white powder, Eric says: 'I can't tell you the name of this. It is going to be very popular and your buyers will be very interested in this.'

Scooping out a pinch between his fingers he says: 'We've been working on this for some time. It is almost perfect and ready to ship. The purity is 99.9 per cent. If you look at it, you can see it is snow white. That shows how pure it is.'

Inside the laboratory, with huge bell jars at one end, a small team of scientists appear to be working on a dozen different chemical processes at once. When we point out the extraordinary variety of colours in one of the bell jars and compare it to an oil painting, Eric laughs.

'You must be artists,' he says. 'When you look at that jar, you see colours. When I look at it, I see only orders and money.'

Driving us from his laboratory back to his downtown office in the hope of sealing another overseas order, Eric was in a hurry to move on to the next deal.

'I have no time for holidays. I am working all the time,' he says.

Eric, though, like all the most successful drug dealers, chooses not to get high on his own supply. His only vice is cans of Red Bull.

'I have a lot of business on my hands. I need all the energy I can get,' he says.

For the past year, the drug market in the UK has been teetering on the edge of complete anarchy. Drug laws look impotent in the face of the ingenuity and resourcefulness of dealers, users and chemists. We have ended up in a situation where anyone of any age can buy limitless amounts of powerful drugs on the high street or on the internet, and - feasibly - consume it in front of a police officer with little chance of prosecution.

New mproved doping test for human growth hormone use on its way.

Agents currently have only 24 hours after the prohibited substance is injected before their lab tests can no longer trace it. But a long-awaited experimental test that works for at least two weeks after drug use just cleared an important scientific hurdle.

On Wednesday, British doctors reported that the new detection method is reliable even in junior athletes, whose naturally high levels of growth hormone in principle might have triggered a false alarm.

"Despite the fact that there are differences in hormone levels in young athletes, none of them was falsely accused," said Dr. Richard Holt of the University of Southampton, U.K., who tested the new method on British elite athletes aged 12 to 20 years.

"Our hope is that if you have an effective test, that will dissuade athletes from taking growth hormone," added Holt. The findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Human growth hormone is naturally produced in the brain's pituitary gland. It stimulates bone and muscle growth, which has put it on the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) List of Prohibited Substances and Methods.

Tests for the hormone were only introduced in 2004, according to WADA's website. And this past February, British rugby player Terry Newton became what the agency called "the first completed case involving an analytical finding for human growth hormone." He accepted a two-year sanction without contest.

The new method works by detecting two proteins -- called IGF-I and P-III-P -- that are present in the blood and reflect growth hormone levels. Known as GH-2000, it was originally slated to be introduced at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. But scientific concerns about its reliability in different ethnic groups and age groups held it back.

At this point, said Holt, it has cleared all except one hurdle, and his team expects to complete the pre-market tests by the end of 2010.

Holt and WADA, which funded part of the GH-2000's development, do not want to reveal the exact date the new detection method will be introduced. They prefer it to make it a surprise to any athlete who might be cheating.

"We strongly suspect that a number of elite athletes are abusing growth hormone as a means of improving their performance," Holt said

Olympic champion Merritt tests positive for DHEA.

Olympic 400 metres champ LaShawn Merritt of the United States has been suspended after testing positive for an anabolic steroid contained in an over-the-counter penis enlargement product.

Merritt, who is also the world champion at 400 metres, said in a statement via his lawyer that he was "deeply sorry" at failing three doping controls for the banned substance dehydroepiandrosterone.

The 23-year-old American, who faces a two-year ban, said: "To know that I've tested positive as a result of a product that I used for personal reasons is extremely difficult to wrap my hands around. ( is he trying to be funny ? )

"I hope my sponsors, family, friends and the sport itself will forgive me for making such a foolish, immature and egotistical mistake. Any penalty that I may receive for my action will not overshadow the embarrassment and humiliation that I feel inside.

"I am deeply sorry and hope that other athletes who take these types of over-the-counter products will be even more cautious and read the fine print, because if it can happen to me, it could happen to you."

Merritt failed tests for the steroid DHEA between October last year and January after he started taking the product following the end of last season.

DHEA is a steroids precursor banned by the US Anti-doping Agency.

"He has now put his entire career under a cloud and in the process made himself the object of jokes," said USA Track and Field chief executive Doug Logan, who added he was "disgusted by this entire episode".

The Virginia-born athlete has accepted a temporary ban and will not compete until his case has been heard, his lawyer Howard Jacobs stated.

More info on Australian cop's steroid importing case.

( one other press report claims the steroid oils were hidden in sachets )

A Darwin police officer who illegally imported steroids and then lied to colleagues about it escaped a criminal conviction.

Constable Sandor Bolgar, 33, pleaded guilty in the Darwin Magistrates Court yesterday to importing a form of testosterone he ordered from Bucharest, Romania, over the internet.

Commonwealth prosecutor Claire Wyatt said the package was intercepted when it arrived in NSW in September last year, and Bolgar's home was searched after the contents were tested.

Police officers later seized his computer hard drive, and also found a syringe.

Ms Wyatt said Bolgar told the search officers that he had never taken or bought steroids, and knew they were illegal to import without permission.

He said two money transfers to Europe were to his Hungarian father. But police found he had spent time on body building websites, including sites about injecting steroids, and had been to the shop and shipping pages of a steroid website.

Bolgar's lawyer Peter Maley said that Bolgar had since been prescribed a similar substance by a doctor, and had ordered the steroids for $400 because he had been feeling lethargic.

Mr Maley said Bolgar lied to police officers because he panicked and was humiliated in front of his wife and two small children.

He said Bolgar had a good record and would have to "run the gauntlet" of the Ethical and Professional Standards Command.

Police spokeswoman Amy Sloan said last night the command was considering the court findings.

Magistrate Sue Oliver said in sentencing it was unlikely Bolgar would reoffend.

She put him on a 12-month good behaviour bond, without recording a conviction.

Large Thai steroid shipment caught by Canadian customs.

An Edmonton man has been arrested and charged with importing a controlled substance after border officials intercepted a large quantity of steroids they say was destined for his house.

Canadian Border Service Agency officials in Vancouver seized 342 vials and 10,000 tablets of steroids on April 7.

They were sent in a package from Thailand through Vancouver, postmarked to an Edmonton address.

Members of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams executed a search warrant April 16 at the address on the package, where they seized six rifles, 194 grams of marijuana and 24 tabs of ecstasy.

Norman Jones, 55, has been charged with importation of a controlled substance and possession of ecstasy.

Underground steroid lab discovered in New York motel room.

City police have charged a Corinth man with possession of steroids and materials used to manufacture the substance.

Joshua Arnold, 22, of 333 Main St., Corinth, was arraigned in City Court on Tuesday night and charged with fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Police say Arnold was in possession of $100,000 worth of stanozol, dromostanolone propionate, trenbolone acetate and winistrinol — liquid and powder steroids — as well as liquids and equipment used to manufacture, package and distribute them. Police say he intended to distribute the steroids throughout and beyond the Capital District.

Arnold was first pulled over by city police at 9 a.m. March 2 when he passed a stopped school bus on Maple Avenue. That traffic stop led police to a motel room in Saratoga Springs that Arnold had been using as a workshop to manufacture steroids and prepare them for distribution.

After a daylong investigation with the help of the city’s Narcotics Unit, Capital District Drug Task Force officers and Drug Enforcement Agency officers, police executed a search warrant on the motel room and recovered the drugs and equipment.

Lt. Greg Veitch said once the materials were seized, police needed a laboratory to confirm what the substances were and they also needed to investigation where the huge amount of steroids had come from and to whom they were being sold. He said it is possible the investigation will result in additional arrests.

A source close to the investigation said Arnold likely obtained the steroids from overseas sources.

“This investigation is the result of excellent pro-active police work and an example of officers going the extra mile to uncover criminal activity occurring in the city. We do not typically become involved in very many steroid-related investigations, and we thank the DEA for providing additional resources and expertise in assisting us with this investigation,” Chief Christopher Cole said.

Arnold is being held in Saratoga County Jail; his bail is set at $10,000 cash or $20,000 bond.

Canadian arrested collecting Chinese tablet shipment at his US post office box.

A Canadian dentist and champion curler is facing drug charges in Seattle on allegations he tried to smuggle thousands of counterfeit erectile dysfunction pills to British Columbia.

In a federal criminal complaint, authorities say customs agents intercepted a package of counterfeit pills meant for of Richmond, B.C. resident James P. Armstrong on April 7. Armstrong was arrested a week later retrieving a package from a Blaine post office box.

Charged with trafficking in counterfeit goods, Armstrong is accused of helping to distribute the Chinese-made pills labeled as Viagra and Cialis.

Writing the court, a Food and Drug Administration special agent based in Seattle said customs officers intercepted a box containing 2,544 tablets of fake Viagra and 260 pills of knockoff Cialis. The package was to be delivered to a private mailbox business in Blaine, located just south of the Canadian border.

The agent noted in court documents that the package had been shipped from Hyyuan, China. The drugs and packaging appeared nearly identical to the genuine article.

Speaking with staff at the mailbox business, investigators were told Armstrong arrived weekly to pick up boxes shipped to the address. The FDA agent concluded that Armstrong received "a very large number of parcels or boxes arriving … from various foreign countries including China and India."

Investigators learned Armstrong is a retired dentist. An Internet search showed he is also a noted curler and member of the Canadian paralympic curling team.

Speaking with investigators, Armstrong allegedly admitted to bringing multiple shipments of the drugs into Canada. He is alleged to have claimed he provided the drugs to another man, who in turn sold them at clubs in the Vancouver area.

Jailed following his arrest, Armstrong was released after posting bond on $20,000 bail. He is expected to return to U.S. District Court on April 30 for a preliminary hearing.

Snurf / DXM pill site owner pleads guilty.

A Las Vegas woman who marketed and sold an abused recreational street drug on her Web site under the pretense that it was an “herbal alternative” pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal felony fraud and drug charges, Nevada's U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said today.

Yamila Abraham, 34, pleaded guilty to mail fraud and misbranding a drug, and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 16. Abraham faces up to 20 years in prison on the mail fraud count and up to three years in prison on the misbranding count, and fines of up to $250,000 on each count.

According to the plea agreement, between January 2004 and August 2006, Abraham operated www. Pleasureherbs.com, which falsely and fraudulently offered for sale “herbal” alternatives to recreational street drugs, including a product known as “Snurf.” Snurf was not an “herbal supplement,” as Abraham represented, but instead was comprised entirely of dextromethorphan hydrobromide (DXM), which is a stimulant and the active ingredient in over-the-counter cough suppressants.

Abraham knew that Snurf was being used as a recreational drug in dosage amounts substantially exceeding that recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Abraham also knew that this presented a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death. She agreed to the forfeiture of $38,362 and 20,000 DXM pills.

The investigation was initiated after FDA officials in Chicago intercepted two parcels traveling to Las Vegas that had been declared as containing vitamins, but which actually contained thousands of DXM pills. FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service conducted the criminal investigation of the case. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Crane Pomerantz.

Ret's steroid conviction overturned by Russia's Supreme Court :-)

Russia's Supreme Court has released four convicted steroid smugglers ( bodybuilder Dmitry Koshuba ( RET ), Vladimir Matyuk, Sergei Degtaryov and Yelena Tsymbal ) after overturning the most severe charges against them.

During their original trial the jury acquitted them of 58 of 60 charges they faced but the group were still sentenced to jail time ranging from four and a half to six and a half years for attempted smuggling and illegal distribution of controlled substances.

This attempted smuggling charge was overturned yesterday Tuesday the 20th of April and the sentence for distribution was made conditional resulting in their release, the four men had always maintained their innocence.

Former WWE wrestler Luther Reigns suffers a stroke, blames steroid use and painkillers.

Former WWE wrestler Luther Reigns ( aka Matthew Wiese ) suffered a stroke recently and rehabs on an outpatient program at a hospital in Glendale, Ariz. The 36 year-old Reigns told the Arizona Republic that a culture of steroid and painkiller abuse led to the stroke. "We wrestled every night, damn near every night," he said. "We were beat to hell. So we needed pain pills to do our job."

Australian cop's future under scrutiny after steroid case

Northern Territory Police Ethics and Professional Conduct Board is considering the future of a constable caught importing drugs.

Police say they are conducting an internal investigation into the case of 33-year-old Constable Sandor Bolgar, who pleaded guilty to importing prohibited steroids last year.

A Darwin magistrate ordered the officer to serve a 12 month-good behaviour bond but Constable Bolgar did not receive a conviction.

Steroid case moves forward against orrections officer without drugs.

New charges have been brought against an Oneida County correction officer tied to the alleged sale of illegal steroids last summer, and prosecutors Monday said they will attempt to prove their case without using any of the drugs that were seized from his Deerfield residence.

A county grand jury indicted Peter DiNardo for a second time last week on a stripped-down series of felony charges after County Court Judge Barry M. Donalty suppressed drug evidence seized from DiNardo’s home in August 2009.

Donalty found that evidence had been wrongfully seized using a flimsy state police search warrant.

But rather than leave the judge to dismiss the drug charges against 42-year-old DiNardo altogether, the Oneida County District Attorney’s Office decided to seek a new indictment to replace the previous one, prosecutors said.

“We reviewed the case, and we decided to put the case back into the grand jury without making any reference to the evidence that was suppressed or to anything that was derived from that evidence,” District Attorney Scott McNamara said Monday.

DiNardo now faces charges of fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and fifth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, both felonies, in connection with an alleged July 2009 steroid sale that also involved 23-year-old Yorkville resident Zachary Lazore.

Lazore was an Oneida County correction officer with DiNardo at the time, but has since been terminated. DiNardo remains suspended without pay.

According to the new indictment, DiNardo was acting as an accomplice to Lazore on July 22, 2009, the day Lazore allegedly sold steroids to a confidential informant in North Utica.

Lazore faces the same drug charges as DiNardo, as well as additional charges of selling and possessing steroids in connection to a second sale that allegedly occurred on July 31, 2009, in Yorkville. Steroids also were seized from Lazore’s residence in August 2009, but those drugs have not been suppressed.

Both men are due to be arraigned on the new indictment Thursday, April 29.

Although prosecutors would not elaborate on the remaining evidence against DiNardo and Lazore, state police investigators previously described Lazore stopping at DiNardo’s residence shortly before Lazore met a confidential informant at Delmonico’s Italian Steakhouse for an alleged drug transaction.

Metformin inhibits IGF-1 and possibly cancer.

Metformin, a safe and inexpensive drug widely used to lower blood glucose in Type 2 diabetics, may have a variety of other uses, researchers are finding. The newest, reported Monday at a Washington meeting of the American Assn. for Cancer Research, is to prevent lung cancer in smokers.

Metformin inhibits a hormone called insulin-like growth factor-1, or IGF-1, which explains its anti-diabetes activity. But IGF-1 also plays a crucial role in cancer development, and a variety of observational studies have hinted that, by blocking its activity, metformin may inhibit cancer. Studies have shown, for example, that women being treated for breast cancer who are also diabetic and taking metformin have a threefold better response to their chemotherapy. Researchers are now organizing a clinical trial to test its effects.

New study compares Tamoxifen and Raloxifene.

The update of the international Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene, known as STAR, was presented Monday at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Washington, D.C., by Dr. D. Lawrence Wickerham, an Allegheny General Hospital doctor who is associate director of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project, which oversaw the trial.

After tracking more than 19,000 women for nearly seven years, STAR found that raloxifene is 75 percent as good at preventing breast cancer as tamoxifen, but is much less likely to cause endometrial cancer, cataracts and blood clots, Dr. Wickerham said. The study is expected to run for another two years, he said, but at this point, he doesn't expect the final results to differ much from this week's report.

Even though tamoxifen's side effects are worse, it has a definite edge over raloxifene on cancer prevention, the study showed. Over several years, it said, tamoxifen appears to lower the incidence of breast cancer in postmenopausal women who are at high risk of the disease by about 50 percent, while raloxifene lowers the incidence by 38 percent.

Read more on post-gazette. com/pg/10110/1051859-114.stm

Former cop sentenced to 300 days jail for steroid possession.

As a former South Bend police officer, Tony Macik has to be pretty familiar with the criminal justice system. He is now seeing it from a different perspective since being arrested for possession of steroids in October of last year.

The 40-year-old Edwardsburg resident was sentenced to 300 days in jail with two days credit for time already served on Friday at Cass County Circuit Court. Judge Michael Dodge said he did not object to serving part of the sentence on tether.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Tiffiny Vohwinkle said Macik was in possession of enough steroids that he must have been dealing the drug.

“He was spreading the synthetic poison throughout the county,” she said. “We recommend a year in jail.”

Macik began using prescription steroids after he suffered an injury several years ago that ended his career as a cop, according to his lawyer Frederick Taylor.

But Macik continued to use the substance after his prescription expired. The Cass County Drug Enforcement Team was tipped off when a fitness center in Granger, Ind. that Macik was working for revealed that Macik had been ordering anabolic steroids with the company e-mail account.

A search was done at Macik’s home in Edwardsburg and a package of human growth hormones that he had signed for was found. Some of the steroids found can only be obtained from the overseas market, according to Dodge.

Macik was apologetic in his comments and thanked his family for their support.

“I’m very embarrassed and very sorry,” he said.

Taylor requested tether for Macik so he could be at home with his family.

“Essentially he’s a stay-at-home dad,” Taylor said.

Dodge said Macik’s clean record and history as a decorated South Bend cop only helped his case.

“I respect the law enforcement service you provided,” he said. “But I need substantial and compelling reasons to deviate from the (sentencing) guidelines. And they are not met in this case.”

Macik’s sentence was toward the bottom of the 10- to 19-month sentence guidelines.

Another guilty plea by friend of Brandon Millay in Kong Labs case.

A 38-year-old Owensboro man has pleaded guilty to failing to report another man for distributing anabolic steroids.

Keith Barrett Evans was accused of not tipping off authorities about Brandon Joseph Millay, even though he knew that Millay was dealing in steroids, United States Attorney Candace G. Hill of the Western District of Kentucky announced.

Evans admitted that between October 2006 and April 1, 2008, he failed to report Millay to law enforcement. Evans received steroids from Millay on at least one occasion, and accepted delivery of three packages of steroids for Millay, and gave those packages to Millay.

Evans' co-defendants, Brandon Millay, Kevin Revelette, Jimmie Garrison, and Mary Hamilton all previously pled guilty, and are scheduled for sentencing on July 6.

The maximum potential penalties are 3 years' imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and supervised release for a period of 1 year.

Evans is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on July 6.

Body of Science impersonating research company busted.

"With a very busy workload, law enforcement often takes some time to get around to closing these rogue research chemical sites. The penalties for such crimes are strict, but in the grand scheme of things, the crimes are not as disturbing to the law as many others. These business also usually stay pretty low on the radar. We can understand why there always seems to be a few of them around."

Read more on WilliamLlewellyn's blog.

Underground lab in Des Moines, Iowa busted.

Des Moines narcotics officers have raided an alleged steroid manufacturing operation in Urbandale, seizing more than 100 vials of liquid steroids.

Officials say the bust is likely to have an effect on bodybuilders at some of Iowa's gyms and fitness centers.

Taken into custody last weekend was Dale Douglas Kinkade, 31, of 12116 Ridgeview Drive in Urbandale. He is charged with possession with intent to deliver steroids, manufacturing steroids and carrying a weapon in a vehicle without a permit.

Des Moines police this week have been cataloging liquid steroids as well as thousands of steroids in tablet and capsule form seized from Kinkade's property, officials said.

Kinkade allegedly was buying steroids in powder form from China and the Philippines, Des Moines narcotics investigator Tony Ballantini said. The products were shipped to a post office box in West Des Moines.

Ballantini said no one currently working in the Des Moines police narcotics office can remember the last time the department handled a steroid case.

Investigators have not yet been able to place a value on the items that were seized but they say just one vial of liquid is likely worth $100 to $150. In addition, narcotics officers seized thousands of empty capsules and a pill press.

"He had a pharmacy, basically," Ballantini said. "He was making his own pills."

Officers seized a scale, computers, formulas, pill bottles and empty vials.

Ballantini said narcotics officers with a Waterloo-Cedar Falls area drug task force did most of the work on the case, developing a suspect on their end. That person traveled to Ellsworth and allegedly met with Kinkade. Officers followed them back to their respective towns and then made the arrests. Benjamin Barnhart, 29, of Waterloo, also was arrested on drug charges, officials said.

Ballantini said Kinkade cooperated with the investigation to a point but didn’t name clients or fitness centers “because he didn’t want to embarrass anyone.”

Hypnotist Scott Lofquist indicted for selling steroids and human growth hormone.

Scott Lofquist, 50, was named in a 20-count indictment along with his business partners Anthony Forgione, a 45-year-old ex-Boca Raton police officer, and Rodney Baltazar, a 47-year-old Delaware physician, for selling the banned supplements.

Lofquist was arrested in Kansas on March 30.

The indictment alleges Forigone sold steroids and human growth hormone through Lofquist's company, Lifetime Wellness LLC.

Lifetime Wellness' Web site offers a 913 number to call for a free consultation and proclaims:

"HGH and Testosterone Therapy returns what nature is slowly stealing away ... "Supercharge Your Life And Your Libido!" Grab Back That Youthful, Natural Vitality"

The indictment (see link) catalogs 20 transactions allegedly made by Forgione between January 2006 and August 2009 (Forgione allegedly worked with Lofquist and Baltazar in the last five of those transactions between July 17 and August 7, 2009).

The Palm Beach Post reports that the alleged deals were made after Forgione pleaded guilty to steroid charges in New York in September 2008, admitting that he and a former Boca Raton doctor shipped steroids to rap stars and athletes, including professional wrestler Chris Benoit, who murdered his wife and son and then killed himself in 2007.

Lofquist was an All-American track and field athlete at the University of Arkansas.

Hushmail helps US government yet again.

Turns out even employees of the NSA thought Hushmail would keep them safe.

Checotah man sentenced on steroids conviction.

Dusty Burns, 29, of Checotah was sentenced Wednesday to 24 months of supervised release with the first four months on home detention for possession with intent to distribute anabolic steroids, according to a media release from Sheldon J. Sperling, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

Burns was indicted in August 2009 and pled guilty in October.

From approximately September 2005 through June 2008, Burns sold anabolic steroids to co-defendant Rusty Hamm and others for use and distribution, Sperling said.

Cops find steroids in Roselle Park man's home in New Jersey.

Police responding to an unrelated matter in Roselle Park arrested a man on suspicion of steroid possession Tuesday, Detective Sgt. Jimenez said.

Officers responded to the home on the 500 block of Westfield Road around 11 p.m. Monday night, police said. Once there, they discovered that REFORMED STEROID DEALER, 28, had more than 500 steroid pills, 12 vials of anabolic steroids, Valium, syringes and a drug used to inhibit the production of estrogen to increase body bulk, Jimenez said.

v is a bartender at Newark Liberty International Airport, police said. They do not believe he was conspiring to use or distribute the drugs with anyone else in Roselle Park.

Borges was charged with possession with intent to distribute prescription drugs, Jimenez said.

He was being held in lieu of $30,000 bail and ordered to appear in court April 23.

Ex-Boca Raton police officer charged with selling steroids and HGH.

Unfazed after pleading guilty to steroid charges in New York in 2008, an ex-Boca Raton police officer continued peddling the illegal supplements through companies in Florida and Missouri, according to records and federal prosecutors.

In a 20-count sealed indictment, a federal grand jury charged Anthony Forgione, 45, of Boca Raton, his alleged business partner, Scott Lofquist, 50, of Overland Park, Kan., and Dr. Rodney Baltazar, 47, a Delaware physician, with selling human growth hormone and steroids.

Baltazar on Wednesday traveled to West Palm Beach to surrender in U.S. District Court. Lofquist was arrested in Kansas on March 30, the day the indictment was unsealed. Court records didn't indicate whether Forgione had turned himself in. He couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.

According to the indictment, Forgione sold 20 shipments of testosterone, oxandrolone and other steroids between January 2006 and August 2009, teaming with Lofquist and Baltazar to make the last five transactions.

The trio allegedly made those deals after Forgione pleaded guilty to felony drug-selling charges in Albany, and got five years' probation in return.

Standing before a judge in September 2008, Forgione said he broke the law with Dr. Gary Brandwein, an ex-doctor from Boca Raton who sent steroids to rap stars and athletes. One of his clients was Chris Benoit, the former professional wrestler who strangled his family in Georgia before hanging himself in 2007. Brandwein pleaded guilty to New York drug charges in March 2008.

In Florida, Forgione dissolved the company targeted by New York investigators, Infinity Longevity, in July 2008. In May 2009, he created a new company by the same name, state records show. He listed the purpose of the company as "consulting."

As owner of Infinity Longevity, Forgione arranged to sell steroids through a company owned by Lofquist, a former NCAA athlete and hypnotist, and aided by Baltazar, the indictment stated.

A Web site for Lofquist's company, Lifetime Wellness LLC, exhorts the benefits of human growth hormone and encourages people to call a Kansas City phone number for a free consultation.

In court Wednesday, Baltazar claimed he was indigent and requested the services of the federal public defender's office, but Magistrate Judge Linnea R. Johnson, who would order him released on a personal surety bond, wasn't convinced.

She quizzed him on the value of his Porsche 911 and Cadillac Escalade and then recommended he sell the sports car to pay for a lawyer.

Virginian man charged for making steroids .

A man has been indicted for making and selling steroids.

Warren N. Vaughan, 41, of the 1700 Danhurst Drive in Midlothian, is accused of manufacturing homemade steroids and distributing them out of his home. He was charged on March 22 for an incident that occurred on Sept. 3 last year. The investigation is ongoing.

Police say the steroids were not manufactured specifically for athletes, and this is not a coach/athlete-related matter.

Man charged with possession in anabolic steroids case.

Anabolic steroids with a street value of $10,000 were confiscated Sunday night during a routine traffic stop in Greene County.

Clayton Ross Brown, 21, of Moss Point, was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

Sheriff's deputies discovered 54 vials of anabolic steroids and more than 700 pills of anabolic steroids in Brown's vehicle. A Mississippi State University student, Brown remains in the Greene County jail. Bond has not been set.

Two similar arrests were made March 11 in George County.

George County Sheriff's Department undercover deputies and Mississippi Department of Narcotics agents purchased approximately $5,000 worth of anabolic steroids from David Merritt, 22, of Lucedale, said George County Narcotics Investigator Justin Strahan.

Merritt allegedly had 19 vials of anabolic steroids and two handguns in his possession, Strahan said.

Later that same day, MBN agents and undercover deputies executed a search warrant at 123 Quail Run Road, Lucedale, and arrested Carlos Carpenter, 36, Strahan said.

Carpenter allegedly had approximately 19 vials of anabolic steroids, roughly $550 and 100 three-milliliter syringes were seized.

A handgun also was confiscated during the search. Merritt and Carpenter both have been released on bond. Strahan said it was unclear if the arrests are related.

This is an ongoing investigation and additional arrests are possible, he said.

Strahan added that the George County investigation began with a tip supplied on Feb. 26. "No arrests involving anabolic steroids have been made in George County for at least several years, if ever," Strahan said.

Former Cleveland police officer gets a year in prison for buying steroids.

A former Cleveland police lieutenant was sentenced to a year in prison and five years of post-release control for illegally buying steroids.

Anthony Tuleta, 51, of Cleveland, also has to pay $94,000 in restitution, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell said.

Tuleta bought steroids from a California doctor using the Internet and submitted $94,000 in claims to Medical Mutual.

A jury found him guilty of theft and six counts of drug possession. Tuleta faced up to 24 years in prison.

He was suspended in November without pay after 27 years with the police department. He resigned after the conviction.

Dr. Ramon Scruggs was sentenced to three years in prison for prescribing the steroids for nonmedical reasons. He did so from January 2003 through June 2007, Assistant County Prosecutor James Gutierrez said.

Scott Siegel ( steroid dealer from The Wrestler ) gets 63 month sentence.

The muscle-bound actor who portrayed a steroid dealer in the 2008 hit film "The Wrestler" got body slammed with a 63-month prison sentence Monday for distributing non-cinematic steroids and taking cops on a destructive 30-minute chase as he evaded arrest.

Scott Siegel of New Rochelle fled from DEA agents in his Cadillac Escalade on the night of Feb. 18, 2009, crashing through fences, ramming into police vehicles, and nearly running down several of his pursuers.

"He has a history of anxiety and depression," said Siegel's attorney, Barry Levin. "Between that and the self-medication of steroids, he had what you might call a "‘roid rage."

After Siegel was subdued, agents found a mountain of anabolic steroids in his home that dwarfed the small stash of drugs he sold to Mickey Rourke's lead character in a memorable locker-room scene of the 2008 film. Last October, Siegel pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute anabolic steroids and two counts of assaulting, impeding and interfering with officers in the performance of their official duties.

Levin had sought a 24-month sentence for his client, but U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Karas – who happens to be the judge that sentenced BALCO sprinter Marion Jones to prison in 2008 – chose the high end of the sentencing spectrum for Siegel, who had previous drug convictions on his record.

Levin said his client might have faced up to 20 years in prison if he had not pleaded guilty.

"He accepted responsibility for his actions," said Levin. "He'd like to start his life fresh and turn his life around."

According to court papers, the evidence officers recovered from Siegel's home included more than 1,450 bottles of liquid steroids in liquid and approximately 28,000 tablets of oral steroids, along with $70,000 in cash and ledgers charting his steroid dealing.

Since his arrest, Siegel has been in a White Plains jail cell where Levin says he suffers from hormonal imbalances caused by years of steroid abuse.

"As a result of abusing steroids since his teenage years, he has developed a serious mood disorder with both manic and depressive aspects," Levin wrote in court papers.

Update on the sad death of British teenager Matthew Dear.

Anguished Tina and Chris Dear have launched a crusade against steroids after their fitness fanatic teenage son died through using the body-building drug.

Matthew was months away from his 18th birthday and his dream of joining the Royal Marines when he bought a £40 batch of black market steroids at his local gym to boost his physique.

He took them for just three weeks - but they caused a fatal swelling to his brain and within days he was dead. And his parents are convinced he would have never have touched the drug if he had been probably informed about the consequences.

Speaking exclusively to The People a year after the tragedy, Tina and Chris told how they are struggling to come to terms with their loss - made harder after the pair who supplied the pills were only handed community service orders at a court hearing last month.

Tina, 43, said: "Everyone talks about crack, heroin and cocaine - but nobody talks about steroids. "Yet there are more youngsters taking body-building supplements than hard drugs."

"Matt lived for joining the armed forces - but he fell to pieces before our eyes."

The Dears had no idea about their son's drug-taking until he collapsed at home and confessed while being taken on a stretcher into an ambulance. But the damage to his body had already been done - despite taking the pills for less than a month.

Chris said: "Young people and parents need to aware about the dangers of steroids. We didn't see any physical changes in our son until it was too late. If only we had known he had been tempted we could have talked him out of it."

Matthew had been a member of the Royal Marine Sea Cadets since he was 12 and had always had his heart set on taking the naval force's selection exam and fitness test when he was 18.

After leaving school at 16 he worked part-time as a postman alongside his dad and did a bit of gardening to make some money. He spent the rest of his time training at a local gym or keeping fit with runs near his home in Southend, Essex.

Tina said: "Matthew was so health conscious - he didn't smoke, rarely drank and never ate chocolate. "He was dedicated to preparing for his fitness test. He didn't even touch painkillers, so we never thought he would turn to steroids."

When Matthew suddenly began vomiting one Monday morning in April 2009 his parents at first put it down to food-poisoning. Tina, the tears welling in her eyes, recalled: "He started feeling unwell and was quite sick

"At the time he was working at Royal Mail and gardening for extra money as well as seeing his girlfriend and training, so we put it down to Matt burning the candle at both ends." But after he returned from a party days later, the teenager suddenly found he could not walk - and within minutes he collapsed.

His terrified parents dialled 999 and an ambulance dashed to their home. It was only as he was being carried out by paramedics that he told them he had been using the class-C drug methandienone - an anabolic steroid.

Matthew's parents were left reeling - particularly because their son had shown none of the telltale signs of drug use. Chris said: "I was totally shocked. I thought I would be able to tell if my children were taking drugs from the moodswings or spots. "So we were stunned when he told the paramedic he had been using steroids for three and a half weeks after buying 50 pills for £40 from a guy in his gym."

But his parents' horror subsided after the teenager was discharged from hospital the following morning. Chris said: "While I was angry at him for taking drugs, we were so relieved Matt was on the mend and we knew what was making him ill."

But the couple's jubilation was to be short-lived. Just 24 hours later, Matthew's speech began to slur and Chris and Tina rushed him back to A&E. His condition deteriorated rapidly and doctors were forced to sedate the ailing youngster, who was by now screaming and writhing in agony.

Matthew was immediately moved to intensive care. But his brain had swollen so dramatically it had caused brain-stem death - and medics were powerless to save him. He died days later.

Devastated Tina - a learning support assistant - said: "When we walked out of hospital hand-in-hand that morning, I couldn't believe our boy was dead." and Chris said: "He was my pride and joy. He never let me down. "He was a beautiful kid - someone I looked up to."

Matthew's sudden death meant his parents never got the chance to ask him why he had chosen to take the drug.Chris believes Matthew turned to anabolic steroids in a bid to make him stronger before trying to sign up with the elite unit he idolised.

He said: "When you join the Marines it is very tough and Matthew was worried he needed more upper-body strength. "He didn't want to be Arnold Schwarzenegger but he wanted to be strong enough for the job."

Two post-mortems later discovered the strapping teenager had no underlying health problems.

But experts could not agree whether steroids had caused his death because he had taken them for such a short time. The conflicting medical views meant a court did not take Matthew's death into account when the pair involved in supplying the drug were sentenced last month. The court ruled prosecutors could not prove "beyond reasonable doubt" the steroids had killed the teenager.

In another cruel blow to his shattered family, Alexander Moss-Austin, 18, and 21-year-old Garry Penny - both from Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex - were given 160 hours' community service and a year's supervision order by Basildon Crown Court.

Chris, his face still etched with anguish and anger, said: "I was gutted.

"I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach when I walked out of the court.

"Moss-Austin was the man in Matthew's gym saying, 'Look at my body and how big I've got - look what you can be if you take steroids'.

"He will never know what he has done to this family and what we have lost." Tina added: "We know the steroids killed our son.

"He never had any problems before that."

Now Chris and Tina - who have four other children Peter, 17, Michael, 14, Anthony, 11, and Ellen, seven - are determined to use Matthew's death to highlight the dangers of steroids to other youngsters.

Working with Essex Police's 2 Smart campaign - which tours schools warning children about drugs, alcohol and weapons - they are intent on educating kids on the perils of musclebuilding drugs like methandienone, which can only be legally sold at pharmacies.

Chris said: "The law around steroids is very cloudy. "You can legally buy them and take them but it's illegal to sell them and doctors have got to make up their minds as to whether they think steroids kill or don't kill. All the confusion with the law and medics sends out mixed messages."

Chris added: "The only thing we can do is try to raise awareness and educate those who are tempted to take them."

And Tina said: "It's only since this happened to Matt and by speaking to other people that we realised steroids have become a huge problem for kids.

"Part of the problem is youngsters like Matthew don't see them as drugs.

"They perceive them like a supplement because they are for body building.

"But they are drugs - and the people that sell them are drug dealers."

Heartbroken Tina added: "We never in a million years thought Matthew was going to die from taking steroids - and I don't think he did either."

As well as their schools crusade, the couple have flooded their local area with leaflets featuring a harrowing photograph of Matthew as he lay dying in his hospital bed to spell out the horrific price of taking steroids.

Chris and Tina have also set up a website called www.matt-dear.vpweb.co.uk to plug the campaign.

But the stark reality for the couple is that the pain of losing their first-born child will never leave them.

Chris said: "He was such a lovely boy, as good as gold.

"Every day I wake up thinking about him and I go to bed thinking about him. He is everywhere I look."

A world-famous expert on steroids last night spelled out just how dangerous it is to use the drugs.

Toxicologist Dr Andrew Kicman said: "They are powerful and the effects can be seen within weeks.

"One of the areas of particular concern are their effects on the cardiovascular system, particularly the heart, which can cause sudden death.

"A study by the Government's drug advisors stated anabolic steroids were more harmful than ecstasy."

The law rates anabolic steroids as Class C drugs - and that means they can only be legally sold on prescription by pharmacists

Possession of steroids with intent to supply is a crime carrying a sentence of up to 14 years' jail and an unlimited fine.

Side-effects include sterility, gangrene, violent mood-swings, ulcers, vein damage, acne, insomnia and male breast growth.

Retired Giants player Benard admits he took steroids after knee surgery.

In an interview with The Chronicle before Sunday's 2000 Giants reunion was lost to the rain, Benard made his first public admission that he took steroids. He called it "stupid" and said the only benefit is being able to use his own mistake as a lesson to his children on the perils of taking shortcuts.

"To be honest with you, it was an embarrassing moment that you can't take back," Benard said. "When you're playing, you do some dumb things, thinking, 'This is going to help me.' You realize later on they were stupid.

"The hardest part for me was to sit my son down and explain to him what I did. The run we were making in 2002, I saw something special in the team and I wanted to be part of it. You sit there and you go, 'How do you go about that?' "

Benard, now 40, had a breakout year for the Giants in 1999. He hit .290, scored 100 runs and earned a three-year, $11.1 million contract. Once Benard appeared in the Mitchell Report as having taken steroids, many assumed he must have used them in 1999.

However, Benard said he used them only in 2002 after a left-knee operation in hopes of returning to a team that eventually went to the World Series. Benard had 123 at-bats that year and 71 the next. Then he was out of baseball.

"I saw something special in the team, and I wanted to be part of it," he said. "You sit there and you go, 'How do you go about that?'

"Telling my son was the toughest part, the toughest thing for me to realize I did something that wasn't right. Again, it is what it is and you learn from your mistakes. It was great because I get to use that as an example to my son. 'Hey, here I was thinking it was going to be a boost, a shortcut.' I can look back and I can almost say it almost cost me playing a little longer."

New Jersey police seize steroids from Delaware motorist.

A New Castle, Del., man has been charged with steroid possession, police said Friday. Christopher Plumley, 24, is charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession of hypodermic needles. He was released after posting $5,000 bail.

Plumley had in his possession eight vials of testosterone, 100 tables of anadrol and four hypodermic needles when he was stopped on the parking lot of the Dunkin’ Donuts off Interstate 295.

Police said they received a tip that a male in a maroon color vehicle would be coming to the township to sell steroids. Detective Sgt. William Leash and Detective Kevin Villanova conducted the investigation.

Mexican Monterrey goalkeeper Omar Ortiz tests positive for banned steroids

Omar Ortiz, the back-up goalkeeper for Mexican club Monterrey, was suspended by the Mexican football federation Friday after testing positive for banned steroids.

The Mexican federation said it was giving Ortiz a provisional suspension for a positive test on March 6 following a match against Pachuca. It did not offer more details on the suspension.

The federation said the 34-year-old tested positive for the steroids dromostanolone and oxymetholone. In a statement, Ortiz said he did not know the substances were prohibited.

"It's a difficult situation," Ortiz said. "I didn't do it with any bad intentions. These are two substances they recommended to me and at no time did I think it would be harmful."

Ortiz said he took the substances to stay in the best shape possible.

"I always like to stay in condition, and so I go to the gym regularly to train," he said. "These supplements were to help me feel better, but without giving me an advantage. This really hurts what is happening. I didn't do it to give myself any advantage."

University of Waterloo football player charged for steroid trafficking.

A University of Waterloo football player suspected of selling steroids and human growth hormone is now facing charges.

23 year old Nathan Zettler was charged with possessing drugs for the purpose of trafficking following a break-in investigation.

At one home, several thousand pills, vials and capsules were seized. Police believe the cache includes anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs.

Through their investigation, Waterloo Regional Police found several types of anabolic steroids, including nandrolone, trenbolone, stanozolol and testosterone, along with a quantity of tamoxifen, a breast cancer drug sometimes used in conjunction with steroids to help reduce water retention.

The seizure of such a large quantity of steroids also sparked fears among Canada’s university sports governing body that police had uncovered a pipeline that could be supplying drugs beyond the Warriors and into the Ontario University Athletics football league.

Two not guilty pleas in UG lab steroid case.

Two people pleaded not guilty Tuesday to criminal charges in connection with an illegal anabolic steroid manufacturing ring that was busted last year.

Jason Glavin of El Dorado Hills and Erin O'Neil of Fair Oaks were arraigned in El Dorado County Superior Court in Placerville. They are expected to return to court next month.

Both suspects were arrested after a 10-month investigation.

Agents seized a large anabolic steroid lab in Elverta and more than 500 vials and 1,850 capsules of anabolic steroid pills. The steroids had an estimated street value of $118,000.

Between February and September 2009, an undercover officer purchased anabolic steroids from Glavin on multiple occasions at a grocery store parking lot in Citrus Heights, authorities said. Before and after some of the undercover purchases, Glavin drove to the Fair Oaks residence of his alleged steroid suppliers, Erin and Amy O'Neil, investigators said.

According to a search warrant affidavit, Glavin's steroid supplier received "raw product" and clandestinely manufactured and labeled the anabolic steroids for distribution.

During the course of the investigation, agents learned that purchases in the name of Amy O'Neil were made through PayPal from a manufacturer of blank laser and inkjet labels, and from a company that sold encapsulating machines and various sized capsules, which can be used to encapsulate anabolic steroids.

This case culminated in the late afternoon on Oct. 14, when Glavin was placed under arrest after he delivered 100 vials of anabolic steroids to the undercover officer in a parking lot at San Juan Avenue and Sunset Avenue in Citrus Heights. After Glavin's arrest, police served three state search warrants in El Dorado Hills, Fair Oaks and Elverta.

Russian swimmer gets 2-year doping ban.

Russian swimmer Nikita Leviakov has been banned for two years for doping with two anabolic steroids.

FINA said the Russian federation banned the 17-year-old Leviakov after she tested positive for stanozolol and dehydrochlormethyltestosterone at the national junior championships in Perm last December.

Leviakov cannot compete again until Dec. 25, 2011. She is also ineligible for the 2012 London Olympics under an IOC rule which bars athletes who serve a doping ban of more than six months.

FINA also announced that Chinese swimmer Wei Kun has served a six-month ban after testing positive for the asthma medication formoterol in an out-of-competition sample.

Australian doctor caught doping.

An Adelaide doctor who had harboured ambitions of cycling for Australia was yesterday suspended from the sport for two years after testing positive for anabolic steroids.

The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority conducted an in-competition test on Steve Sabine in April, 2009 at the South Australian Criterium Championships.

The sample returned a positive test for the testosterone which is classed as an anabolic steroid and is banned both in and out of competition.

Sabine, who is listed as a general doctor at Adelaide's Surgical Obesity Clinic, had also tested positive to prednisone and prednisolone which are both glucocorticosteroidsand are banned in competition when administered orally, which he admitted to.

The cyclist waived his right to a hearing and accepted the maximum two-year ban.

Sabine began his racing career with the Adelaide cycle club, before joining the South Australian Vets club after the state titles a year ago.

Operation Oxymoron targets painkiller and steroid dealers in New Jersey.

A Flemington man who owns an Edison pharmacy has been charged with leading a network that distributed thousands of illegal prescription drugs in Essex County, authorities said Wednesday.

Vincent Hsia, 50 is accused of using Lincoln Pharmacy on Route 27 to fill prescriptions for more than 45,000 oxycodone pills that were not prescribed by doctors. More than 20 other suspects also face state and federal charges in connection with the alleged network, which has operated since at least October 2007.

Investigators executed search warrants at Hsia's home, four other defendants' homes, Lincoln Pharmacy and two other businesses owned by Hsia: Sudz Wash & Fold in Somerville and Express Laundry World in Maplewood, authorities said. The searches netted three guns, oxycodone pills, fraudulent prescriptions and prescription blanks, anabolic steroids and more than $500,000 in cash.

"Vincent Hsia used his white lab coat and his pharmaceutical license to hide the true identity of his criminal acts," said John McCabe Jr., acting special agent in charge of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration New Jersey Division.

Thai bride caught carrying 13 k of Anabol by Australian customs.

A Thai golf caddy who planned to marry her fiance next month was arrested at Melbourne Airport on Good Friday allegedly carrying 13,000 high-quality anabolic steroid tablets.

After yesterday being bailed, Arisa Pantaeng, 28, embraced her fiance, who had waited for her while customs officers searched her after a flight from Bangkok, outside court.

A senior customs investigator told Melbourne Magistrates Court that Pantaeng had enough steroids for personal use to last about 26 years and which were worth up to $65,000 on the black market.

Investigator Peter Blackmore said most of the pink, hexagonal-shaped tablets were found in her carry-on luggage, while more were found in cut-off stockings after an external search of ''bulges'' around her groin.

He told the court Saturday's arrival was Pantaeng's fourth in Australia in 14 months and that she claimed steroids were freely available in Thailand. He said Pantaeng, a mother of two, faced a maximum sentence of five years' jail if found guilty.

Mr Blackmore told the court the tablets' ''active ingredient'' was five milligrams per tablet and that generally, depending on the size of the user, about 10 would be taken per week.

Mr Blackmore said her fiance Thoredahl ''Todd'' Shannon, who was unaware of the alleged importation, had sponsored her visit on a spousal visa.

He could not dispute defence lawyer Jonathan Miller's suggestion their wedding was booked for May 21 and that her previous visits were short because she did not have a longer visa.

Prosecutor Tracy Campbell opposed bail for Pantaeng on a charge of importing a tier 2 good because of a flight risk, lack of ties to Australia and the seriousness of the charge.

Mr Miller submitted the prosecution had not shown Pantaeng was an unacceptable risk on bail and that ultimately it was not certain she would be jailed. He told magistrate Donna Bakos that Mr Shannon played ''professional sport'' and worked in advertising while the couple planned a life and business together in sports catering.

In granting bail, Ms Bakos said strict conditions could address concerns.

Pantaeng was ordered to live at Frankston, report to police, surrender her passport and not apply for any travel documents. Pantaeng will appear again in June.

Witness in Mobile steroids trial gets probation for testimony.

A Colorado doctor who admitted writing fraudulent prescriptions for anabolic steroids and who testified against his former business associate received probation last week.

Dr. Kenneth M. Olds, 65, of Greeley, Colo., was one of the key witnesses in a federal trial in Mobile earlier this year. His testimony helped convict Brett W. Branch, who ran an anti-aging clinic, and four officials at Applied Pharmacy Services in Mobile.

Olds was one of several doctors who admitted to signing off on steroids orders at the behest of Branch, who previously had worked as a salesman for Applied, a Mobile-based compounding pharmacy that filled the prescriptions.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Donna Dobbins said in a court filing that Olds "made an excellent, credible witness. Dr. Olds clearly explained his association with co-conspirator, Brett W. Branch, and the method by which prescriptions for anabolic steroids and other drugs were prepared and sent to Applied Pharmacy in Mobile."

Olds, who served as a doctor in an Army special forces unit during the Vietnam War, is the senior partner of a family practice of 20 doctors.

The Colorado Board of Medical Examiners has placed Olds on probation for five years for his conduct.

Canadian flagged on US border with suspected steroids.

An Ontario man crossing the Peace Bridge into Buffalo late Friday was charged with possessing anabolic steroids.

Manuel T. Johnson, 22, of Ohsweken, was a passenger in a car attempting to pass through Peace Bridge Plaza when U. S. Customs inspectors found 76 green tablets in a black gym bag in the trunk of the vehicle. The tablets were determined by Poison Control to be anabolic steroids, which are illegal in New York. Johnson was charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a narcotic drug.

Australian Doctor prescribed drugs in night clubs.

A doctor who took his prescription pad to nightclubs and parties and prescribed steroids and tranquilisers to patients was "nothing more than a drug dealer", the Medical Tribunal has found.

The practices of Kelvin Wong - who once described himself as the "bad boy doctor" - were reprehensible, the tribunal said.

It ordered that Dr Wong be struck off the medical register for at least 18 months, saying his conduct ''amounts to a complete abrogation of his responsibilities as a medical practitioner and demonstrates an abandonment of principle.

''He showed no concern or even a passing interest in the welfare of the patients who were taking the vast quantities of drugs he was prescribing. Indeed he was unconcerned whether they were taking the huge amounts of drugs or selling them.''

Dr Wong has appealed against the decision.

The Health Care Complaints Commission made numerous allegations against Dr Wong, including that he inappropriately prescribed restricted substances such as anabolic steroids and benzodiazepines, or tranquilisers.

Dr Wong had written prescriptions on demand from 2001 until 2006, giving patients "what they asked for, at the dose they requested and as often as they liked", the tribunal said.

In 2004 he began taking his prescription pad out with him at night, writing scripts for friends at parties, it said. Later he took his pad to nightclubs to write prescriptions for regulars, saying some of his patients asked him to do it because people there would want drugs.

The tribunal said Dr Wong had been "nothing more than a drug dealer", willing to "write prescriptions for all and sundry".

MasXtreme by Natural Wellness Inc recalled.

MasXtreme is sold in blister packs containing one capsule. It is considered a dietary supplement, and does not require a prescription. The recall specifically involves Lot #911035.

The FDA has found that MasXtreme contains aildenafil, which is similar in structure to sildenafil used in the prescription medication Viagra to treat erectile dysfunction.

The second problematic ingredient is an alpha-adrenergic blocker called phentolamine, used to prevent or control hypertensive episodes.

Australian bodybuilder in child sex case.

"He is also alleged to have injected a substance into her anus, believed to be anabolic steroids, in an attempt to make her feel sexually aroused.

Prosecutor Sergeant Brett Sheppard said the man had also been charged with trafficking a drug of dependence after police found a large quantity of anabolic steroids in the boot of his car.

However, defence lawyer Russell Kelly said the man was a professional body builder and used the drugs to prepare for competition."

PowerMedica founder charged with illegally selling growth hormones.

The founder of two Deerfield Beach firms suspected of illegally selling human growth hormones and anabolic steroids was criminally charged this week after a five-year federal investigation.

Thousands of customers of PowerMedica and Metragen Pharmaceuticals obtained anti-aging, muscle-building drugs without valid prescriptions under Daniel L. Dailey's watch, according to federal charges filed late Wednesday. Dailey was PowerMedica's chief executive officer and later ran Metragen, a company he started.

Dailey, of Deerfield Beach, also is accused of hiring a dentist and a doctor with a revoked medical license to sign off on some of those prescriptions without needed medical reviews. Efforts by the Sun Sentinel to reach Dailey by e-mail for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration raided PowerMedica's office at 600 W. Hillsboro Blvd. in February 2005, carting off boxes of drugs and 16 file cabinets. The business shut down eight months later, but federal authorities say Dailey transferred its assets to Metragen. Federal authorities allege Metragen continued to sell drugs without valid prescriptions until January 2007.

Dailey, 50, faces two criminal charges — conspiracy to unlawfully distribute human growth hormones and conspiracy to distribute steroids. Each charge carries up to five years in prison.

Federal authorities also unsealed a four-count indictment this week against James M. D'Amico, the dentist accused of lying about being a medical doctor and signing off on improper prescriptions. D'Amico, who federal authorities say was PowerMedica's chief medical consultant, faces the same drug charges as Dailey. In addition, he has been charged with two counts of lying to the federal grand jury that investigated the company.

D'Amico was arrested Tuesday in Central Florida, court documents show.

Earlier this month, New York doctor Manuel Sanguily was charged with rubber-stamping prescriptions for PowerMedica. Sanguily's first court appearance is scheduled for April 23.

PowerMedica opened in 2000, advertising in bodybuilding and fitness magazines as well as on the Internet. Customers would call in, often seeking human growth hormones for non-medical uses like bodybuilding or athletic enhancement, according to court records.

Salespeople, many without any medical background or training, would prepare a custom drug order for clients. Oftentimes, customers would get their prescriptions without having a doctor review their medical history forms or ever meet with them, federal authorities allege.

Judge strikes ‘blow’ to correction officer steroid case.

An Oneida County Court judge ruled Thursday that there wasn’t enough evidence to justify searching the Deerfield home of a county jail correction officer last summer in connection with the alleged sale of steroids.

As a result, Judge Barry M. Donalty said prosecutors will not be able to present any of the steroids, testosterone and cocaine allegedly seized from the home as evidence against correction officer Peter DiNardo. They now are left to consider the remaining evidence for prosecution.

In addition, Donalty will further review the grand jury testimony to determine whether any of the related drug charges against DiNardo and his codefendant, former county correction officer Zachary Lazore, should be dismissed.

DiNardo, 42, of Deerfield, and Lazore, 23, of Yorkville, both are charged as accomplices with the criminal sale and possession of steroids in connection with an alleged drug transaction that occurred July 22, 2009.

Three ordered to trial in steroids case.

Two personal trainers who used to have a gym in Lemoyne were ordered to stand trial on steroids charges following a preliminary hearing Thursday in Dauphin County.

Stacy Garonzik, 39, of the 100 block of West Vine Street, Shiremanstown, and Eric Garonzik, 39, of the 3400 block of Lisburn Road, Mechanicsburg, are accused of selling steroids and injecting clients with liquid steroids in the office of the now-closed Kinetics gym, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett.

Christopher Levan, 37, of the 400 block of West Simpson Street, Mechancisburg, was also charged with delivering steroids and criminal conspiracy and waived his right to a hearing Thursday.

Corbett said the investigation began in the fall of 2007 and revealed that the three were part of a network that brought more than $170,000 worth of steroids to Pennsylvania from China and Mexico since 2004.

University football player banned after Canadian police launch steroids probe.

One football player has been banned from the University of Waterloo campus, and the entire football team underwent drug testing on Wednesday in the wake of a police investigation related to steroids and human growth hormone.

Waterloo Regional Police Service Supt. Steve Beckett told Canwest News Service that its investigation is separate from the university’s, and that the university or its football program isn’t the target of the probe, but rather the trafficking of the drugs in the Waterloo region.

The university has launched its own investigation following information it received from police last week, which led to the banishment of the unnamed player, “pending the disposition of legal proceedings,” the university said in a statement.

While possession of steroids isn’t illegal, possession for the purpose of trafficking in the drugs is. Their usage also contravenes the rules of Canadian Interuniversity Sport, which is the reason for the university’s involvement.

Doctor charged with forging Testosterone prescriptions.

A Manatee County chiropractor forged a colleague’s signature to obtain testosterone from a pharmacy near Miami, leading to his arrest for fraud.

Dr. David S. Zamikoff, 39, was arrested Feb. 22 by Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputies in his office at Natural Healing Arts Medical Center, 2215 59th St. W.

Court records show someone from Natural Healing Arts faxed a prescription Feb. 8 to Hallandale Pharmacy in Hallandale Beach for testosterone with Zamikoff listed as the patient.

The signature of Dr. Michael G. Yaffe, a Bradenton neurologist, authorized the prescription. According to the affidavit, the signature appeared to be from a “premade signature stamp.”

Yaffe told detectives he did not sign the prescription form.

“I have not given permission to anyone in the office of Natural Healing Arts to perscribe (sic) and or write perscriptions (sic) attributed to me without my knowledge,” Yaffe said in an written affidavit.

Yaffe, who was an associate of Zamikoff’s at Natural Healing Arts, told investigators that he has never used a signature stamp while practicing in Florida.

Zamikoff has pleaded not guilty in Manatee County Circuit Court to a charge of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. He was released on $1,000 bond after his arrest.

The charge is a third-degree felony, which carries the maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Zamikoff did not return a message left for him Wednesday at his office. His practice is still open.

Zamikoff’s attorney, Derek Byrd, said Zamikoff had previously been prescribed testosterone as an anti-aging treatment and could have obtained the medication legally.

“If he did what they’re saying he did, I would characterize it as a shortcut,” Byrd said.

It is considered unethical for a physician to self-prescribe a controlled substance. Testosterone and other anabolic steroids were classified controlled substances by Congress in 1990.

According to Florida Department of Health records, Zamikoff has been licensed in Florida since 2000. At the time of his arrest, the department’s Web site listed his license as set to expire Wednesday. But this week, the site says Zamikoff’s license now expires March 31, 2012.

Before the arrest, detectives executed a search warrant at Zamikoff’s office. According to the probable cause affidavit, they found a stamp matching Yaffe’s signature on the prescription, as well as a credit card with the number listed on the prescription document in or on Zamikoff’s desk.

They also found two bottles of testosterone from Hallandale Pharmacy in a cabinet behind Zamikoff’s desk.

Zamikoff told detectives that Yaffe and another physician, Dr. Gustavo Arrojo, had prescribed testosterone for him in the past. Yaffe denied ever seeing Zamikoff as a patient or prescribing any medications for him, and Arrojo said he had prescribed testosterone for Zamikoff once in 2008, but not since.

Two steroid dealers arrested in Northern England.

CASE 1.

A man was held in connection with dealing steroids following police raids at St Helens premises.

The 27-year-old, who has since been released on bail pending further enquiries, was arrested on suspicion of possessing anabolic steroids with intent to supply.

He was taken in for questioning following the police swoop earlier this month.

A Merseyside Police spokesman confirmed a warrant had been executed under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

A number of items were seized by officers and have been sent away for forensic analysis while the investigation continues.

CASE 2

A man his 30s was arrested on suspicion of dealing anabolic steroids and temazepam following a raid on a house in Clinkham Wood.

He has been released on police bail pending further enquiries.

It is the second arrest in connection with steroid dealing that has come to light in recent weeks.