Federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston are investigating the girlfriends of defendants indicted in the major Texas steroid bust codenamed Operation Pharmacia Juicy Fruit according to recently filed court documents. Prosecutors have made it clear to defendant Bruce Zaccaria and his attorney that they have the goods on a former girlfriend; she was identified by first name practically as an unindicted co-conspirator. The relevance of this disclosure is unknown.
One thing that has emerged as a new known fact to the United States is the following: while the defendant was working at My Mechanic (his co-worker has been proposed as a surety by the defense and his steady work record has been offered as evidence he is stable and reliable) and during the interception of calls between the defendant and Brock Falkenhagen, the defendant ordered and even met with Falkenhagen to receive anabolic steroids… Furthermore, the defendant was directing Falkenhagen at times to drop off the anabolic steroids with his girlfriend “Carly”… Clearly, the defendant exercises a degree of control over his then girlfriend who was receiving the illegal drugs on his behalf. [Emphasis added]
The “new fact” emerged from the extensive surveillance and interception of phone calls made by defendants during the course of the steroid investigation. There may have been thousands of intercepted phone calls. Prosecutors have not ruled out additional indictments arising out of the Texas steroid investigation. Read more
Bruce Zaccaria has been detained without bail as an unacceptable “danger to the community” based solely on an allegation of selling 250 vials of anabolic steroids to bodybuilders who were members of a Houston-area 24 Hour Fitness almost two years ago. By contrast, a judge in an unrelated Dallas-area case apparently feels that a suicidal man firing a gun at police does not represent a threat to society.
Bruce Zaccaria’s pre-trial detention highlights the significant disparities in sentencing for defendants awaiting trial in Texas in court cases where anabolic steroids are involved.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Calvin Botley seems to have concluded that the safety of the community is at considerable risk from steroid use by bodybuilders. Judge Botley determined there were absolutely no conditions that could possibly protect the community from the dangerous Zaccaria if he were released on bail. Zaccaria was charged with “conspiracy to manufacture/possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids” punishable by up to 5 years in prison.
Meanwhile, a Dallas-area man threatening suicide under financial duress, fired a gun at Frisco Police officers, was arrested and released on $20,000 bail after a four-hour standoff with police special operations unit on June 28-29, 2009. Paul Bailey was charged with “aggravated assault with a deadly weapon” which is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years incarceration. Bailey was in possession of five bottles of anabolic steroids at his home, including nandrolone decanoate, testosterone cypionate and methandrostenolone. The courts did not feel that Bailey was a “danger to the community” even though his neighbors in the affluent Frisco subdivision of Lakes of Preston Vineyards feared for their safety after he was released Read more
NPC Texas Chairman Lee Thompson was found in possession of “large quantities of different types of anabolic steroids” when he was arrested on May 25, 2009 according to federal prosecutors. Fort Bend County Sheriff Deputies arrested Thompson after a federal grand jury indicted him on steroid conspiracy charges for his alleged involvement with the “Falkenhagen” group.
Chris Downey, the attorney for Lee Thompson, dismissed the government’s characterization of the “large quantities” of steroids in his client’s possession as inappropriate. Downey argued that the quantity of steroids found was “consistent with personal use” IF all the steroids that were expired and therefore unsuitable for use were EXCLUDED.
The Government has alleged that the defendant was in possession of “large quantities” of anabolic steroids at the time of his arrest. While defendant has not yet completed the process of discovery in this matter, defendant has a good faith reason to believe that a review of the substances to which the government refers would reveal that some of the items were not suitable for use as they had expired. Furthermore, the quantity remaining would constitute an amount consistent with personal use and is not properly characterized as “large quantities”.
The new details in the Lee Thompson case were made public when Downey requested permission for his client to travel outside the United States. Thompson and his fiancee had made extensive plans for their wedding on the Carribbean island of St. Lucia on July 4, 2009. However, as a condition of Thompson’s release on a $50,000 unsecured bond, Thompson had to surrender his passport and was prohibited from traveling outside the United States. Read more
NPC Texas Chairman and IFBB Judge Lee Thompson was indicted on anabolic steroid conspiracy charges by a federal grand jury on April 30, 2009 in United States District Court for the South District of Texas. Court documents confirm the rumors that Timothy Lee Thompson aka Lee Thompson was one of the individuals facing federal charges in the Operation Farmacia de Juicy Phruit drug bust led by the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Department and the DEA. Lee Thompson was charged with one count of “conspiracy to manufacture and possess with the intent to distribute a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of anabolic steroids, a Schedule III controlled substance (21 USC 841(a)(1); 841(b)(1)(D); and 846)”. * He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and requested a jury trial.
Lee Thompson, the owner of One-2-One Training Centers in the Houston area, was previously publicly identified only as the “gym owner” arrested in the steroid bust. His identity was “unsealed” following his arrest. Lee Thompson is one of 22 co-defendants named along with Charles Brock Falkenhagen, the primary suspect in the investigation, in a superseding federal indictment. The superseding indictment included 46 counts involving the distribution of anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, hydrocodone, MDMA and money laundering. It is important to note that Thompson ONLY faces a single steroid conspiracy charge while Falkenhagen was named on each of the 46 counts. Read more
Operation Farmacia de Juicy Phruit is the code name for the major steroid bust in Houston led by the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Department involving the arrest of 73 defendants. The “largest narcotics operation in the history of Fort Bend County” primarily involved the arrest of personal trainers, their clients, bodybuilders, a professional bodybuilder and a gym owner in the Houston area. Many of the arrests only involved steroid possession. The steroid network was characterized by Sheriff Milton Wright as a “loose knit” network of individuals involved in fitness/bodybuilding who distributed steroids through “word of mouth”. The total amount of steroids sold over a period of about six years was estimated to have been $643,924 (”Authorities round up drug suspects,” May 27).
“It’s one of these things where they’ve got their friends on speed-dial. They need a certain product, they give them a call and so forth,” Wright said. “They just know each other. A lot of times they know each other by nicknames. They are well-connected to each other in that respect.”
Fort Bend County Sheriff Wright told the Houston Chronicle that the Texas steroid investigation revolved around personal trainers and gyms (”Fort Bend holds suspects in alleged steroid ring,” May 28).
“The majority of this thing is built around body trainers at fitness centers,” said Wright. “Their livelihood is getting customers they can develop physically — legally or illegally. It doesn’t matter in their eyes, as long as they get the job done.”
The steroid operation originated with Brock Falkenhagen, owner of Fitness Associates and Smoothie Factory in Sugar Land, when his activities came to the attention of law enforcement in late 2006 for importing and distributing Jintropin brand human growth hormone (HGH) purchased from Lei Jin of GeneScience Pharmaceuticals. Falkenhagen also allegedly manufactured and distributed anabolic steroids from some time in 2001 through September 7, 2007. Falkenhagen was well-connected in the Sugar Land / Stafford / Missouri City / Houston area fitness community and was friendly with several personal trainers and bodybuilding promoters. Some of Falkenhagen’s friends are rumored to have been arrested today. Charles Brock Falkenhagen was listed as a co-defendant on the sealed indictments of all 22 defendants indicted by the federal grand jury in April 2009; the names of Falkenhagen’s co-defendants were redacted in unsealed court documents.
Falkenbaden was not characterized as the mastermind behind the steroid operation. But authorities would not elaborate on how the Falkenbaden investigation led to the arrest and indictment of personal trainers and bodybuilders in the Houston area. Falkenbaden was arrested approximately a week before today’s arrests and released on a $75,000 unsecured bond Read more
The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office is leading a major anabolic steroid bust this morning originating out of Texas in conjunction with the IRS, Houston DEA office, Fort Bend County District Attorney, US Attorney and the FDA. Operation Farmacia de Juicy Phruit arrests began at 4:30am CDT and have put approximately 50 individuals, including professional bodybuilders, gym owners, personal trainers and even pharmacists, in custody from at least three states including Texas, California and Georgia. The three-year operation could involve as many as 200 individuals.
Some major cities in Fort Bend County, Texas include Stafford, Katy, Pearland, and Sugar Land.
More details after the press conference:
