Two amateur bodybuilders told a federal judge about the widespread use of anabolic steroids in competitive bodybuilding. They explained to District Judge Richard Schell that all competitive bodybuilders use anabolic steroids including one of the most famous bodybuilders in the history of the sport - Arnold Schwarzenegger (”Two sentenced for roles in steroids ring run by Plano bodybuilder David Jacobs,” September 5).
“I felt like I did what I had to do,” Mr. Smith said. “Any person you see on stage in those competitions, even [California] governor [Arnold] Schwarzenegger, you can’t get to that size naturally. There’s not one of those people up there who doesn’t take performance enhancing drugs. I got wrapped up in the sport.”
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“I had to do it to be competitive in the sport,” [Jamie Mongeau] told the judge. “I’ve taken responsibility for what I’ve done. I’ll never go that way again.”
Judge Schell advised Brandon Smith to find another hobby to pursue instead of bodybuilding.
The review article profiles steroid dealer David Jacobs and his introduction to anabolic steroids, his integration into the bodybuilding scene, his networking with pro football players, his decision to import and manufacture anabolic steroids, his steroid bust, the dismantling of the Texas steroid network, and his ostracism from the bodybuilding community (”Plano resident’s steroid distribution ring was one of the largest in U.S.,” April 24).
I recommend reading the complete article for a better understanding of the chronology and scope of the Texas steroid investigation. Below are a few excerpts.
David Jacobs’ decision to manufacture and distribute anabolic steroids:
At Lewisville Lake’s Party Cove one weekend, he met his first pro bodybuilder, Art Atwood. The two became friends, and Mr. Atwood helped train the up-and-coming rookie.
Both men were taking steroids, but were unhappy with shoddy Mexican imports.
Mr. Jacobs went online and found a solution: recipes for steroids using raw Chinese powder. Mr. Jacobs soon parlayed his knowledge of Asia, gleaned during his Nokia business trips, into contacts with English-speaking middlemen to the Chinese steroid powder factories.
Sloppy packaging that led to steroid bust:
On March 19, 2007, the United Parcel Service intercepted a soggy package sent from Mr. Jacobs’ Plano home, bound for Wichita, Kan. When officials opened the box, they found a broken glass vial of what turned out to be steroids.
Authorities arrested the man in Kansas who had ordered steroids from Mr. Jacobs, court documents say. Jamie Mongeau, an amateur bodybuilder, told investigators that Mr. Jacobs was his supplier.
Ostracism from bodybuilding community:
Brian Dobson, owner of Arlington’s MetroFlex gym, which produced eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman and where Mr. Jacobs used to train with other bodybuilding friends, said that since his bust, Mr. Jacobs has been ostracized by the bodybuilding community he once serviced.
“A lot of people hate him,” Mr. Dobson said. “To a lot of the other guys who were his buddies, once he got caught, he became the black plague.”
The full text of the article is available on the Dallas Morning News website.
Federal authorities have shifted significant resources to investigation of steroid trafficking within the United States and internationally. Given the prevalence of steroid use in professional bodybuilding, many observers felt it was only a matter of time before the federal investigations reached the sport of bodybuilding. When David Jacobs was arrested in May 2007 on steroid distribution charges, there was a great deal of anxiety within the sport; Jacobs had close ties with various professional bodybuilders and national level bodybuilding competitors in the State of Texas. The collective anxiety increased through November 2007 when court records revealed Jacobs had entered a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.
Sources close to the investigation have told MESO-Rx that, in spite of Jacobs close ties to the sports, bodybuilders were never the targets of the investigation.
Individuals who have worked with the assistant U.S. attorney Samuel Cantrell in the United States District Court (Eastern District of Texas) paint a picture of a young, fair and open-minded prosecutor who is very good at his job with a 93% conviction rate. We are told Cantrell is primarily concerned with disrupting the supply chain of anabolic steroids to (1) professional athletes who use them to gain an unfair advantage in sports competitions where performance enhancing drugs are explicitly prohibited, and (2) teenagers whose use may adversely affect their health during a critical developmental period.
Independent sources tell us that federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Texas could care less about bodybuilding. Cantrell purportedly does not display a moralistic condemnation of steroid use in bodybuilding; he is of the opinion that anabolic steroid use is an overt part of the sport which has no explicit proscription of the use of performance enhancing drugs by any of its competitors at the novice, amateur or professional levels. It’s obvious that everyone in pro bodybuilding uses them.
Individuals in Cantrell’s office have even expressed admiration at the dedication and determination exhibited by bodybuilders. While they do not see steroid use in bodybuilding as morally “bad”, but make no mistake that they believe the illicit use, sale and distribution is “wrong” simply because it is against the law.
Even in the case of David Jacobs where the defendant had obvious ties to various competitive bodybuilders, a source familiar with his case files informs us that Jacobs was only asked about two pro bodybuilders and only because of the extensive photographic and videographic evidence linking Jacobs to Branch Warren and Art Atwood.
According to one source, Branch Warren was never investigated after Jacobs denied Warren ever had any involvement. Furthermore, federal investigators had no evidence to suggest Warren was ever involved in the distribution of anabolic steroids. Friends of Branch Warren confirm his adamant stand against involvement in steroid distribution.
On the other hand, federal prosecutors had two years of detailed records, including photographs and video surveillance documenting a relationship between David Jacobs and Art Atwood; the same source tells us that Jacobs basically only confirmed the evidence detailing the Jacobs-Atwood relationship.
The damage to the sport of bodybuilding will be limited since bodybuilding is not the apparent target of the Texas steroid investigations.
Real journalists are supposed to rely on verifiable facts when writing news stories. Michael Brick of the New York Times appears to be guilty of sloppy fact-checking in his coverage of the federal steroid investigations down in Texas.
A black Hummer pulled into the Hooters parking lot as dusk fell. Arthur Dale Atwood, a professional bodybuilder with a 61-inch chest, opened the tailgate for a police informant to deliver more than 100 bottles of fake drugs made from vegetable oil.
The story implies that Art Atwood was selling and dealing “fake” steroids. Court documents which provide details of the sting operation indicate that federal investigators gave the police informant fake steroids in place of real steroids as part of the Atwood sting operation. “Fake” steroids are often used in sting operations to establish conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute.
Furthermore, the police informant involved in the federal steroid sting operation was Art Atwood’s best friend; Atwood had no reason to suspect he was being sold fake steroids. His best friend had been acquiring steroids from David Jacobs who was distributing legitimate steroids imported from China according to independent sources.
Prosecutors could have tried Atwood and Jacobs on multiple counts of drug conspiracy, seeking to make an example of two bodybuilders suspected of distributing steroids. But instead, they made deals that could keep both men from serving any prison time.
Art has informed MESO-Rx that he had not entered into a plea agreement with federal investigators and the New York Times assertion of such a deal was categorically false. Atwood has not been charged with a crime and it remains to be seen if charges are filed against him for his involvement.
Atwood and Jacobs were enlisted to cooperate in Operation Raw Deal, the federal government’s most aggressive drive yet to interrupt the importation and traffic of performance-enhancing drugs through nutrition stores, gyms and Web sites. In September, authorities in 10 countries coordinated the arrests of more than 120 people, seized more than $6 million and collected 11 million steroid doses, 3 boats and dozens of weapons.
While the Texas investigation is a complex and interconnected case, Atwood explains that his involvement in the case is different from Jacobs; Atwood does not have the same connections e.g. with NFL football players, nor does he have a plea agreement with prosecutors assuring him that he will avoid jail time. The facts involving Atwood’s case are significantly different and will be judged independently, contrary to suggestions by the New York Times of similarities between the Atwood and Jacobs cases. As he told the local CBS affiliate, “David did his own thing; I was my own entity.”
Through the summer, six other people connected to Atwood and Jacobs were arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute steroids. Most have pleaded guilty to the federal distribution charge. In interviews, investigators and defense lawyers described the six as bodybuilders who were supplied by Atwood and Jacobs and who were familiar with one another partly through competitions and mostly through online sales.
The New York Times implies that six bodybuilders were arrested as the result of Art Atwood’s cooperation with federal investigators. Atwood strongly denies the truth of this allegation; the implication that they were “turning people in left and right” is untrue. Furthermore, none of the six indicted co-conspirators of David Jacobs have accused Atwood as being responsible for their arrests.
While the parties affected by the federal steroid investigation in Texas are restricted by what they can say to the press by legal considerations, the full truth and details of this large scale investigation will become a matter of public record soon - most likely upon sentencing of the parties involved. MESO-Rx tries to provide additional information as it becomes available but the details are incomplete and we should be cautious before we rush to judgment in the absence of all of the facts.
IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Art Atwood was approached by the Dallas/Fort Worth CBS affiliate and asked about his involvement in a federal steroid investigation. Atwood was asked about potential steroid charges that he may face, concern about jail, and his association with David Jacobs who has agreed to a plea bargain in the steroid investigation.
There have been unsubstantiated rumors of a steroid bust involving Art Atwood for several months. David Jacobs, known by bodybuilding fans as Branch Warren’s training partner, was rumored to be a steroid dealer turned police informant who sold 100 vials of counterfeit steroids to Art Atwood in early May 2007. However, court documents revealed that Art Atwood was never arrested, charged or convicted of any type of anabolic steroid possession, steroid distribution or steroid conspiracy charge(s). Technically, Art Atwood was never “busted” for buying/selling steroids.
Today, the New York Times confirmed that IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Art Atwood bought 100 vials of counterfeit anabolic steroids from an unnamed police informant back on May 7, 2007. Atwood was arrested moments later, not on a steroids violation, but for a minor traffic violation. Clearly, police could have arrested and charged Art Atwood on a felony steroid possession or distribution charge, but they did not. We now know why…
Three days later on May 10, 2007, a grand jury indicted David Jacobs on three counts of “conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids” and and one count of “unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm.”
In November 2007, it was publicly revealed that David Jacobs would only receive probation as part of a plea agreement; in exchange, he told the media he would fully cooperate with federal authorities and release the names of professional athletes to which he sold anabolic steroids.
Today, the New York Times revealed that Art Atwood also made a deal with Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel Cantrell in which he would completely avoid jail time; in exchange the feds have his full cooperation. The feds enlisted both Art Atwood and David Jacobs to help them with Operation Raw Deal. But the New York Times was unable to uncover the final target of the multi-state investigation.
It is unclear whether or not Art Atwood will ever be charged with a crime. But Art Atwood and David Jacobs are still cooperating in an ongoing federal investigation meaning customers who bought anabolic steroids from them could still face criminal prosecution.
The New York Times articles provides an interesting insight into “steroid prosecution methods and goals.”
