A long-anticipated federal indictment against Applied Pharmacy Services (APS) on charges of conspiracy and distribution of anabolic steroids was unsealed by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama in Mobile. The massive 198-count federal indictment identifies twelve individuals as part of the Applied Pharmacy Services steroid distribution network including pharmacy owners and pharmacists, and doctors and businessmen who profited from customer referrals to APS. Six co-conspirators in the APS steroid distribution network were previously indicted in separate cases (”Pharmacy owners, others are charged in steroids case,” January 22).
“Each of the pharmacy owners and pharmacists named in the indictment are charged with prescribing and selling veterinary steroids, approved for cattle and livestock only, to humans,” U.S. Attorney Deborah Rhodes said in a prepared statement. “We will continue to work with the DEA, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division and the Alabama Board of Pharmacy to ensure that medical professionals who abuse their position of trust are held accountable.”
The United States Attorney’s Office in Mobile showed a considerable penchant for political grandstanding against steroids in the APS indictment. U.S. Attorney Deborah Rhodes and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Donna Dobbins and Maria Murphy felt compelled to use inflammatory language in the indictment that was seemingly more reflective of personal anti-steroid bias than steroid law.
The prosecutors did not miss an opportunity to inject the label of “steroid user” to indicted individuals which served no other purpose than cheap attempts to further demonize the invididual; rather than restrict language such that it conformed to legally-defined crimes, prosecutors repeatedly identified defendants as “steroid dealers.” Read more
Sweta Patel, the third and final party targeted in the Cellular Nucleonic Advantage steroid investigation, has pleaded guilty to one count of criminal diversion of a prescription medication. A sentence of five years probation is expected as a condition of her plea agreement. She joins founder Benjamin Eugene Bolton and Monday Miller who have previously pleaded guilty to felony steroid charges for their role in CNA. All three parties have avoided prison time (”Another guilty plea in steroids probe,” December 3).
”She made sure the patients got what they wanted; she was basically the go-between for the clients and doctors,” said Albany County Assistant District Attorney Christopher Baynes, head of the office’s financial crimes unit.
The CNA case is part of a multi-state, national steroid distribution investigation targeting compounding pharmacies, like Signature Compouding Pharmacy and Applied Pharmacy Services, and anti-aging and longevity clinics, conducted by David Soares and the Office of the Albany County District Attorney. Information leaked to the press from the investigation has linked top IFBB pro bodybuilders to various anti-aging clinics, including Ronnie Coleman (Cellular Nucleonic Advantage in Sugarland, TX) and Victor Martinez (Anti-Aging Centers in Nanuet, NY); no pro bodybuilder has been targeted for prosecution as part of David Soares’ investigation Read more
Three more doctors, Kenneth Olds, Kelly Tucker and Pamela Pyle, pleaded guilty in a steroid conspiracy involving the compounding pharmacy Applied Pharmacy Services (APS) (”3 more docs admit guilt in steroids case,” April 30).
Drs. Kenneth M. Olds and Kelly W. Tucker of Greeley, Colo., agreed to plead guilty in Mobile to dispensing anabolic steroids outside the course of professional practice. Greeley is also home to another who in January pleaded guiltyto withholding information about illegal steroids prescriptions.
Dr. Pamela Pyle, a Myrtle Beach, S.C., osteopath, also admitted to the withholding offense, known as misprision of a felony.
The indictments were expected after Assistant U.S. Attorney Donna Dobbins requested a postponement in the sentencing of their APS co-conspirator Scott Corliss last week. Olds and Tucker had previously been named in court documents as co-conspirators in the APS steroid scandal. We have not previously seen a link to Dr. Pamela Pyle.
MESO-Rx expects all four doctors who have pleaded guilty in the steroid conspiracy will cooperate with federal prosecutors in their pursuit of Applied Pharmacy Services Inc. and their owners Samuel Kelley and Jason Kelley.
Prosecutors allege that Applied Pharmacy Services was party to a conspiracy involving the distribution of anabolic steroids to individuals without a legitimate medical need.
“Working in concert for their mutual profit, these doctors, pharmacy owners, pharmacists and sales representatives removed the word controlled from ‘controlled substances,’” U.S. Attorney Deborah Rhodes said in a written statement. “They made sure that anabolic steroids were readily available to any person willing to pay for them, regardless of any legitimate medical need.”
Practices that have troubled prosecutors include the distribution of trenbolone acetate which has no accepted medical application in humans and the dispensing of steroids to patients as young as 19 years old.
Applied Pharmacy no longer offers pharmaceutical quality anabolic steroid and hormone preparations; they have stopped production of all anabolic steroids as a result of DEA pressure and the ongoing federal steroid investigation.
MESO-Rx learned in January 2008 that the federal government is mounting a case against Applied Pharmacy Services (APS) on charges of conspiracy to illegally distribute anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. The alleged conspiracy includes APS’ major shareholders Samuel Kelley and Jason Kelley; Brett Branch, an APS sales rep and owner of Infinite Health in Eaton, Colorado; and Colorado physicians Kenneth Olds, M.D., Kelly Tucker, M.D. and Scott Corliss, M.D. Scott Corliss is the only co-conspirator who has been indicted to date.
According to the Mobile Press-Register, physician Scott Corliss pleaded guilty for his role in the steroid scandal and agreed to cooperate with federal investigators in its case against Applied Pharmacy Services. Corliss was scheduled to be sentenced last week, but Assistant U.S Attorney Donna Dobbins from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Mobile requested a postponement to pursue additional indictments in the APS investigation.
Chief U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade agreed Thursday to postpone the sentencing hearing for a Colorado doctor who pleaded guilty to a steroids-related charge earlier this year. As part of his plea bargain, Dr. Scott A. Corliss agreed to assist the investigation…
“This multi-jurisdictional investigation is ongoing and the United States expects that charges will be filed against other co-conspirators in the near future,” the motion stated.
APS was raided in December 2006 under the direction of the Office of Albany District Attorney David Soares. However, the federal investigation and alleged conspiracy charges are separate from the New York state investigation.
