A federal steroid investigation in Texas that shut down a major steroid source in the Texas is now targeting an NFL football player. Matt Lehr, currently with the New Orleans Saints but previously with the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons, was one of the subjects of a grand jury investigation convening in Texas according to the New York Times. At least one active NFL player from the Atlanta Falcons was subpoenaed to testify against Lehr on possible steroid distribution charges (”Former Dallas Cowboy named in steroid investigation,” April 8 ).
Amateur bodybuilder David Jacobs was the steroid source that was busted in May 2007. Jacobs had extensive ties to both amateur and professional bodybuilders; he was widely recognized in the sport as IFBB Pro Branch Warren’s training partner. Fortunately for the sport of bodybuilding, bodybuilders were NOT the target of the federal investigation. It now appears that the end target(s) of the U.S. attorney’s office are professional football player(s).
David Jacobs had also previously trained with NFL player Matt Lehr in Texas. Lehr’s former girlfriend, female bodybuilder Andrea Trent, confirmed that David Jacobs and Matt Lehr were close.
“David and Matt were close and pretty tight,” said Ms. Trent, adding that they worked out together “all the time.”
Branch Warren has distanced himself from David Jacobs but surprisingly has come to the defense of football player Matt Lehr in the Dallas Morning News.
Local pro bodybuilder Branch Warren, who used to train with Mr. Jacobs, said he is friends with Mr. Lehr and does not believe the NFL player has ever done anything illegal.
“My understanding is, Mr. Lehr was suspended and he moved on with his life,” said Mr. Warren, who lives in Tarrant County. “Matt made a mistake, and he admitted to it. He’s a good guy.
“He’s an NFL player. Why would he sell drugs, someone who makes that kind of money?”
Mr. Warren said that although he does not condone steroid use, he believes it is pervasive in professional sports.
Matt Lehr’s attorney is trying to discredit Jacobs suggesting that the case against Lehr will be dropped due to faulty information provided by Jacobs. But David Jacobs has denied providing federal prosecutors with the names of customers who bought steroids from him stressing that evidence and associations with Lehr were established independent of his cooperation.
Mr. Jacobs denies that he gave up any of his customers’ names to prosecutors. But he says during the course of their investigation of him – which he says dates back to 2005 – authorities tracked his associations and developed the information on their own…
Federal prosecutors are looking at bank records, correspondence and other evidence analyzing what investigators believe could outline transactions involving anabolic steroids and human growth hormone between Mr. Jacobs and Mr. Lehr.
One thing is for certain - the federal investigation in Texas is far from over. All parties involved in related steroid cases must continue to wait for the conclusion of their respective cases while the feds pursue anabolic steroids in football.
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.
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.”
David Jacobs, training partner of IFBB Pro bodybuilder Branch Warren, admitted to selling 40,000 vials of anabolic steroids and several thousand units of growth hormone as part of a sealed plea agreement earlier this month. The Plano-based national level bodybuilding competitor and personal trainer pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids. He was indicted in May 2007 as part of Operation Raw Deal.
Jacobs gained national attention in recent weeks after revealing to CBS 11 (Dallas-Fort Worth television station KTVT) that, as a condition of his plea agreement, he would cooperate fully with federal prosecutors by releasing the names of professional athletes to which he supplied anabolic steroids and growth hormone. In exchange, other charges would be dropped and he would receive three years probation instead of maximum of five years in federal prison.
Statements by Jacobs on his website implied that he worked with several NFL and IFBB athletes:
These athletes range from Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons football players to those we have seen in the top 10 at the Mr. Olympia Bodybuilding Competitions.
Local CBS TV affiliate KTVT wasted no time identifying NFL football player and former Dallas Cowboy Matt Lehr as one of the athletes linked to Jacobs. As proof of their relationship, they showed Matt Lehr photographed with David Jacobs.
While mainstream media may only be interested in NFL players to which Jacobs sold anabolic steroids and ignoring Jacobs’ ties to bodybuilding, those of us who follow professional bodybuilding know David Jacobs was a regular training partner of Branch Warren along with Jay Moore; he replaced Johnnie Jackson as part of Branch’s hardcore training triumvirate last year. There is no shortage of photographic and videographic evidence documenting the relationship between Branch and David including but not limited to scenes in Branch Warren’s DVD and the featured training articles in Flex Magazine.
David Jacobs forfeited over $25,000 cash, his 2005 Hummer H2, 2005 Ford Mustang, and his new Harley-Davidsons. But he still has his freedom as a result of the plea agreement (as long as he cooperates with the feds).
Operation Raw Deal had far-reaching effects in bodybuilding community; Branch Warren is clearly not the only one who has seen friends and training partners arrested or investigated as a result of this federal investigation. In fact, there are probably only a few degrees of separation between most competitive bodybuilders and those who have were busted in the aftermath of the steroid crackdown. However, the David Jacobs plea agreement highlights the vulnerability of the sport of competitive bodybuilding. It is probably only a matter of time before some aggressive prosecutor realizes that they could decimate the ranks of pro bodybuilding and cripple the sport at a fraction of the time and cost necessary to bring down a single professional baseball or football player who uses anabolic steroids.
