Brendan Lyons and the Albany Times-Union have received a lot of praise and acclaim for their “investigative journalism” in the coverage of the Signature Pharmacy steroid distribution scandal. Admittedly, they do a throrough job of covering the Albany-based investigation initiated by District Attorney David Soares. But the reporting is anything but well-balanced serving as little more than a public relations branch of the Albany County District Attorney’s Office.
I do not understand how becoming the bedfellow of a publicity-seeking prosecutor David Soares and the unofficial Albany County District Attorney Office PR agent qualifies as “investigative reporting.” Does this represent the current state of what is valued in investigative journalism? (”Investigative journalism still thriving in Albany,” April 2)
So how did this lone journalist from a mid-sized, out-of-state paper beat all the local and national powerhouses on such a major story? And perhaps more importantly, why did he bother?
The answer lies in the origins of the 2006 steroid case, which actually began in the Albany County District Attorney’s Office — a place Lyons knows well from years of crime reporting for the TU. As the investigation led to Florida and several other states, Lyons was well-positioned to get advance word of the raid. Since then, he has broken multiple follows, including a report in January revealing that numerous stars, from singers Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent to Danny Bonaduce, were linked to the pharmacy.
Apparently making deals to aggressively promote the local district attorney is the key to investigative reporting.
“I approached the DA, and he put me off for a while,” Lyons says. “Then he explained that they were in the throes of a multi-state investigation that would resonate from that office.”
Further digging found that the Orlando site was next. “I started working sources to find out as much as I could,” he says. “I found out that some celebrity athletes were involved.” Names such as boxer Evander Holyfield arose, and Lyons learned a big raid was in the works. But he did not report it, as investigators requested he hold off.
Lyons deludes himself into believing he was involved in serious investigative journalism by fancying himself as a real journalist surrounded by danger in a hostile military environment covering a significant military operation. As Lyons tells the story, coverage of the war on steroids is analagous to the war on terrorism in many ways.
“I thought it was no different than being embedded with a military unit that was going to raid Kirkuk tomorrow,” Lyons says. “The pitch was, ‘If you publish it, they could potentially destroy records and computer files.’” Then Lyons learned that Sports Illustrated was also on the story. “I knew they were being given the same request to hold off,” he recalls. “And the clock was ticking.
“We knew some things and could have moderately reported it,” Port adds. “But if we had done it, we would have ruined their investigative plans, and they made a case that was true. The deal was, when it happened, we would report the heck out of it.”
Thus, Brendan Lyons and the Albany Times-Union entered into a deal with District Attorney David Soares that has greatly benefitted both parties. The seemingly quid pro quo relationship has worked well from the beginning when prosecutor Soares invited Brendan Lyons and a Times-Union photographer to take lots of pictures during a raid that was clearly unnecessary and designed only as a photo op and publish “the heck out of it” (”Soares, Steroids and Albany,” March 2, 2007).
The Florida defense attorney said in a video clip that the suspects were aware of the investigation and offered several times to turn themselves in. David rejected their offer because he wanted to fly down to Florida “…with a camera crew.” Now we are stuck not only with the cost of David’s trip but also with the transportation costs of bringing the suspects up to Albany. In addition to two assistants, David invited a Times Union reporter and photographer on these out of state raids. This doesn’t look good and it appears that David is playing for publicity.
It is my opinion that we need much higher standards for what qualifies as investigative journalism.
The supply of pharmaceutical quality nandrolone decanoate by prescription is becoming very limited within the United States. Watson Pharmaceuticals was the only pharmaceutical company producing Deca Durabolin (nandrolone decanoate) in the U.S. It was available by prescription and could be obtained at most pharmacies around the country.
Watson claimed that Deca Durabolin was discontinued in March 2007 because the raw ingredients were no longer available from the FDA-approved supplier of the powder (”AIDS activists upset by dropped wasting drug,” April 19, 2007).
Patricia Eisenhaur, director of investor relations for Watson Pharmaceuticals, confirmed that Deca-Durabolin, also known as nandrolone decanoate, an anabolic steroid prescribed by physicians to combat AIDS wasting, was discontinued on March 20.
According to Eisenhaur, the active ingredient to manufacture the drug was no longer available from the Food and Drug Administration-approved supplier. Eisenhaur was unable to provide the name of the supplier, which was the only approved manufacturer of the active ingredient.
Obviously, those familiar with black market androgens know that there is no nandrolone decanoate powder shortage. Nelson Vergel of the HIV Blog explains the real reasons why Watson discontinued production (”Important information about nandrolone in the U.S.” March 17).
The decision from the manufacturer (Watson) to stop making nandrolone decanoate (an effective injectable medicine to treat unintentional weight loss and to increase muscle mass) was based on economics and political pressure.
Watson stopped making it because:
It is a generic CHEAP drug
They can sell expensive Oxandrin instead. Oxandrin is approved for unintentional weight loss but costs $1200 a month and can cause liver toxicity in some.
Nandrolone’s indication is for anemia and no doctor uses it for that purpose, so they prescribe it legally off label.
Congress and the DEA are treating anabolics like the treat crack-cocaine and are closely watching every prescriber’s and manufacturer’s move. No HIV doc has ever got in trouble since many studies have shown nandrolone’s benefit and can justify its medical use. However, inexperienced HIV doctors who have not been around long enough to know its history shy away from prescribing due to the bad publicity and misconceptions around these medicines.
Nandrolone decanoate is still available [link removed] from a few compounding pharmacies. However, under extreme federal pressure resulting from the steroids in sports scandals, fewer and fewer compounding pharmacies are willing produce nandrolone medications. As a result, compounding pharmacies are quickly dropping nandrolone decanoate.
Applied Pharmacy stopped all production due to DEA pressure. Some compounders are making doctors sign a waiver to say they will not prescribe nandrolone for non medical uses. Some doctors feel this represents extra liability.
Applied Pharmacy is a compounding pharmacy that provided pharmaceutical quality anabolic steroid and hormone preparations to customers with medical prescriptions. They became the target of a federal probe resulting from prosecutor and political opportunist David Soares’ far reaching steroid scandal investigation. They stopped production of all anabolic steroids as a result.
Prosecutors have re-opened the case of anti-aging doctor Ramon Scruggs in an effort to find more baseball players who have used anabolic steroids (”Inquiry Into Doctor May Link Players to Drugs,” March 12). In June 2004, Dr. Scruggs was formally accused of prescribing steroids and ancillary medications without justification over the internet to patients who he did not physically examine. He settled his case with the State of California in August 2006.
In the settlement, Scruggs agreed the state could prove the charges and accepted a $4,800 fine and 35 months of probation: during that time he is required to have an outside monitor, take various courses and cease prescribing over the Internet. The settlement was agreed to in August 2006 and took effect in March 2007.
Dr. Scruggs prescribed steroids to professional baseball players Troy Glaus and Scott Schoeneweis in 2003 and 2004. In the fall of 2007, this information was leaked to the media by the office of District Attorney David Soares which is leading the investigation of the steroid scandal involving Signature Pharmacy.
As a result of the leak, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California want to revisit Scrugg’s case fishing for additional Major League Baseball players who use steroids.
Ramon Scruggs, M.D. is a physician who, prior to his legal troubles, openly worked with bodybuilders visiting his New Hope Med website; he felt that the best way for a physician to effectively supervise the health of a steroid-using bodybuilder was to medically monitor their steroid use and assure that bodybuilders avoided potentially dangerous black market sources of anabolic steroids.
Dr. Scruggs explained his criteria for prescribing steroids to bodybuilders in an interview with Jason Mueller of Anabolic Extreme in 1999-2000.
[T]hey have to do extensive blood work, they have to fill out a very detailed questionnaire, and they have to have a 40-minute to hour interview with me. That’s basically where we decide if someone can do this. Now, I’ll admit to you that as I do this, my criteria have relaxed. Before I would only do this with athletes or with ordinary citizens if they had a limitation, if they were hypogonadal, if they were on the low side of normal on their blood work. I’ve gradually relaxed that to include people who would be quote unquote normal. You’ve got to realize that virtually everything hormonal is considered normal by the establishment. They have virtually no ability to look at, let’s say the estrogen/progesterone levels for a woman, and testosterone for men and women, and say anything much about them at all because everybody from age 12 to age 90 is considered normal.
Dr. Scruggs felt that he was doing the right thing by monitoring and prescribing steroids to bodybuilders.
I feel like I’ve been led along a certain path in life and it’s almost as if I’m supposed to do certain things by fate. I would have, had it been my choice, done things differently from how they’ve actually happened. But I accept that there are no mistakes, which God has us do the things He would have us do, despite what our little self may want, and I feel directed. So yes, I am concerned about it, but at the same time, I know I’m right! I feel very comfortable in the choices I’ve made and the reason for those choices. I know that I’m helping people far more than I’m hurting them. If you want to know the truth, I don’t like taking 22 or 23 year-old and putting them on steroids, it makes me nervous. Yet, I’d rather have them come to me and manage their steroid use, and then have them do it on their own.
Ramon Scruggs has and continues to pay a substantial penalty for having worked with bodybuilders in this capacity, including a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing in October 2005.
But over a year later, the Office of the Albany County District Attorney continues to prominently display Victor Martinez’ name and picture on its website in a diagram of Operation Which Doctor. He is listed with 23 other individuals directly involved in the Signature Pharmacy and longevity clinic steroid scandals. However, I believe Victor is the only individual listed who has not been indicted. But no where is he identified as an “unindicted co-conspirator” allowing visitors to make their own uninformed assumptions.
Although a criminal defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty and has a Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial, these procedural protections do little to shield an individual who is identified as an unindicted co-conspirator. Because trials focus on the guilt or innocence of the indicted defendants, the practice of naming an individual as an unindicted co-conspirator in effect accuses the person of a crime without providing him or her with a forum for seeking vindication.Thus, the practice routinely results in injury to their reputations, lost employment opportunities,and a practical inability to run for public office…
[I]t is clear that publicly naming individuals as unindicted co-conspirators in a grand jury indictment violates their due process rights…
Consequently, unindicted co-conspirators are labeled as criminals — regardless of whether the defendants themselves are found guilty — because the trial does not focus, and is not designed to focus, on evidence presented against them.
Not only was bodybuilder Victor Martinez publicly named by prosecutor David Soares, but his name and photograph have been prominently featured on the government website at the heart of the investigation for over a year! This is particularly unfair to Victor Martinez.
The co-owner of Lowen’s Pharmacy has apparently died from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head; New York Police Department (NYPD) investigators maintain it was a suicide even though the victim was also shot in the chest.
Six NYPD police officers, most of whom worked out at Dolphin Fitness near Lowen’s, have been under instensive internal affairs investigations for improperly obtaining anabolic steroids from Lowen’s Pharmacy. Lowen’s Pharmacy has been raided on two separate occasions by narcotics officers working with the office of New York’s Albany District Attorney David Soares. These raids resulted in the seizure of over $7 million worth of growth hormone from China as well as $200,000 worth of various anabolic steroids, including testosterone, nandrolone and stanozolol; records seized showed that about $30 million in steroids and growth hormone were funneled through “longevity clinics” in Florida.
Lowen’s Pharmacy has ties to the Gambino crime family. Julius Nasso, Jr. is a part owner of Lowen’s Pharmacy; his father owns the building where Lowen’s is located at the corner of Bayshore Drive and 3rd Avenue in Brooklyn. The father of Julius Nasso, Jr. was a former pharmacist turned movie producer who served prison time for conspiring with the Gambino family to extort money from actor Steven Segal; the uncle of Nasso, Jr. owns a drug company and was sentenced for labor racketeering.
It appears that the federal government is mounting a case against Applied Pharmacy Services (APS) based in Mobile, Alabama. APS has been target of a federal probe for several years although no one has yet been charged with a crime.
However, in court documents provided to MESO-Rx indicate federal investigators believe APS was part of a conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids:
[A]n illegal conspiracy to dispense and distribute anabolic steroids, which are Schedule III controlled substances, human growth hormone (HGH) and other drugs, outside the usual course of professional medical practice.
The alleged conspiracy includes Applied Pharmacy Services, Inc. with Samuel Kelley and Jason Kelley identified as major shareholders involved in the day-to-day operations of the pharmacy.
Also named in the conspiracy is Brett Branch, an APS sales rep and owner of Infinite Health in Eaton, Colorado. Brett Branch is accused of recruiting local physicians to write steroid prescriptions for customers of his clinic as well as recruiting customers from gyms around Eaton, Colorado; Branch also allegedly received commissions on each steroid prescription dispensed to customers of Infinite Health. Colorado physicians identified include Kenneth Olds, M.D., Kelly Tucker, M.D. and Scott Corliss, M.D. Dr. Tucker subsequently invested in Infinite Health to become a co-owner with Branch.
A raid on APS in December 2006 originated with Albany District Attorney David Soares. However, the federal investigation and alleged conspiracy charges are separate from the New York state investigation.
