Pasco County Deputy Rodney Philon was indicted today in federal court for giving 10 Dianabol (methandrostenolone) tablets to a DEA confidential source (”Pasco Deputy Indicted on Steroid Charge,” April 11).
Philon initially said he had just completed his own cycle and was taking a week off and would provide the drugs to the source when he resumed, the complaint states. The source asked whether he or she could start earlier, and Philon said he would try to get the steroids, the complaint states.
The source made arrangements to meet Philon at a Publix supermarket on State Road 54 in Pasco. There, Philon gave the source a plastic sandwich bag with 10 pink tablets of Dianabol, the complaint states. Philon told the source how to use the pills.
This reprsents a 1 to 5 day supply of the anabolic steroid methandrostenolone for most bodybuilders.
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Department in Tampa, Florida sent a SWAT team into a residential neighborhood to arrest an officer for selling 10 tablets of Dianabol (methandrostenolone) to a confidential source (CS). That was the only crime he committed as listed in the criminal complaint.
Philon met with the CS in the parking lot at the CS’ vehicle. During that time, agents were able to observe PHILON give the CS a package and receive money from the CS. The CS was then met by agents where he/she turned over a plastic sandwich bag with 10 pink tablets of Dianabol. The CS stated that when PHILON provided the 10 Dianabol pills to him/her PHILON also gave verbal instructions to CS on how to use the Dianabol pills.
The local media and Sheriff’s Department strongly implied that Philon was involved in a much larger criminal enterprise involving the illegal distribution and diversion of 100,000 tablets of Oxycodone from a pharmacy warehouse. Another deputy was arrested on the same day for his involvement in the Oxycodone drug distribution ring.
I have seen no documents to confirm suggestions that Philon had any involvement in Oxycodone trafficking; apparently his only crime involved the sale of 10 tablets of Dianabol.
However, since the CS (confidential source) was involved in the Oxycodone drug ring and Philon sold Dianabol to the CS, the Sheriff’s Department and local media reported that Philon was arrested as part of the Oxycodone investigation.
There is a big difference between someone selling 10 tablets of Dianabol and a person selling 100,000 tablets of the narcotic Oxycontin. I think it is grossly unfair and irresponsible for the media (and Sheriff’s Department) to tarnish Philon’s reputation by suggesting he was guilty of the latter crime if in fact this is false. (Watch Sheriff Bob White’s press conference outside of Rodney Philon’s home to see what I mean.)
I ask readers to please correct me if I am wrong on the facts in this investigation.
Two of the principals behind the underground lab Pacific Rim Labs (PRL) have pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges related to the manufacturing and distribution of anabolic steroids. Jimmy Ray Jones aka “Jimbo” and Dana Fiscus of Missoula, Montana both pleaded guilty to several counts including conspiracy to “manufacture, possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute anabolic steroids,” “unlawfully importing anabolic steroids” from China, and money laundering. The underground steroid lab did business under a variety of names including Pacific Rim Labs, Big Sky Sports Supplements and Ebay Solutions.
The senior citizen Jones was allegedly the owner of Pacific Rim Labs. Jones’ stepson, Dana Fiscus was in charge of internet sales of steroids, purchasing raw materials from China, and collecting payments from customers via Western Union and Moneygram wires and via mail at a private mail box purchased in his name on Reserve Street in Missoula, MT. Fiscus is married to a police officer in the Missoula Police Department.
The pair were busted after an internet distributor of Pacific Rim Labs in Wisconsin, Kyle Bredl, was arrested for selling $10,000 worth of anabolic steroids including methandrostenolone, stanozolol and oxymetholone to an undercover police officer. A joint steroid investigation between the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Missoula High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force (HIDTA) resulted in their arrests and indictments.
A Libyan national tried to import 24, 000 tablets of Anabol also known as Dianabol or methandrostenolone into Malta. Anabolic steroids are considered “restricted medicines” in Malta. Even though Maltese officials recommend that foreigners carry a doctor’s prescription for prescription pharmaceuticals such as steroids, Malta effectively allows foreigners to bring anabolic steroids into the country for personal use:
Maltese law does not specify what should happen when a foreigner wants to import medicines for his own personal use.
However, if the Maltese courts determine the quantity of anabolic steroids constitutes commercial quantities, then steroid distribution charges apply.
The Maltese case reveals some of the creative methods steroid smugglers use to import anabolic steroids. The 24,000 Anabol tablets were concealed within 24 cans of chickpeas, which were resealed and repackaged.
