Large underground lab busted with steroid powders sent from Shanghai.

A Danville man has been charged after authorities say he operated a business in Blairs that sold steroids online that were shipped from China.

Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Steven Donald Wood, 33, of 4013 Pittwood Drive in Danville, on Sept. 15. Wood faces two counts of distributing anabolic steroids and five counts of money laundering in connection with the operation located at 3801 U.S. 29 in Blairs.

The arrest came after investigators from the sheriff’s office and agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security carried out a search warrant on the business on Sept. 14.

According to a report from Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Investigator Robert Worsham, Wood ran the business, which received shipments of raw powdered anabolic steroids from Shanghai.

Wood then had individuals — one an informant — ship the raw steroids to a packaging facility in North Carolina, where the powder was processed into capsules, according to Worsham’s complaint. They were then transported back to the business, where they were packaged in supplement bottles and sold online.

The informant also provided authorities with detailed financial records, Worsham said in the complaint. That person maintained more than one checking account in the informant’s name on behalf of Wood, according to the complaint.

Wood would have the informant run large amounts of money through the accounts on his behalf, with many transactions totaling more than $40,000, Worsham said in his complaint. Wood had started a corporation, BGW LLC, and used it to funnel money from the steroid sales.

Authorities — acting on information obtained by the Department of Homeland Security — intercepted a “multi-pound shipment” of steroids being returned to the business in Blairs, Worsham said in his complaint.

“Prior to the interception, Steven Wood arrived to observe this delivery, and he was found to have approximately $300,000 … in the vehicle he arrived on,” Worsham stated in the complaint.

Investigators found several hundred pounds of anabolic steroids at the business, in raw and pill form.

Wood is being held in Pittsylvania County Jail under a $1 million bond. The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office has appealed the bond and a bond appeal hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sept. 29. A preliminary hearing will be held at 1 p.m. Dec. 5.

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