Dr. Jesse Haggard, former clinical director of Revolution Medical Centers, has become a federal fugitive after being indicted by prosecutors in the Applied Pharmacy Services steroid investigation. Dr. Haggard unapologetically condemned the United States government’s witch-hunt against him and defended the therapeutic use of anabolic steroids during the course of his medical practice in his recently published book “Demystifying Steroids“. Dr. Jesse Haggard told a local news station that he wrote the book as “a way to ensure my message to the public was not distorted.”
Timothy Holt, the attorney for Dr. Haggard, accused the United States Attorney’s Office in Mobile of political grandstanding while defending his client’s prescribing of anabolic steroids for legitimate medical purposes Read more
Daniel McGlone was sentenced to two years in prison for advertising, marketing and promoting American Pharmaceutical Group (AMG) as a source for anabolic steroids and human growth hormone in bodybuilding magazines and through the internet website PrescriptionProtocol.com. Daniel McGlone aka American Pharmaceutical Group paid $18,150 to American Media Inc. (AMI) for magazine advertisements over about an 18-month period; AMI publishes the bodybuilding magazines FLEX Magazine, Muscle & Fitness and Men’s Fitness. AMG also paid for $1,800 for advertisements in the bodybuilding magazine Planet Muscle for a couple of months.
The American Pharmaceutical Group made $860,810 over a twenty-eight month period in proceeds from anabolic steroid and HGH sales to individual customers and referral bonuses from compounding pharmacies such as Signature Pharmacy. Customers responding to ads in bodybuilding magazines and on the internet were prescribed various anabolic steroids, human growth hormone and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Specific drugs included testosterone, testosterone cypionate, testosterone propionate, testosterone enanthate, stanozolol, nandrolone decanoate, and somatropin Read more
Sweta Patel, the third and final party targeted in the Cellular Nucleonic Advantage steroid investigation, has pleaded guilty to one count of criminal diversion of a prescription medication. A sentence of five years probation is expected as a condition of her plea agreement. She joins founder Benjamin Eugene Bolton and Monday Miller who have previously pleaded guilty to felony steroid charges for their role in CNA. All three parties have avoided prison time (”Another guilty plea in steroids probe,” December 3).
”She made sure the patients got what they wanted; she was basically the go-between for the clients and doctors,” said Albany County Assistant District Attorney Christopher Baynes, head of the office’s financial crimes unit.
The CNA case is part of a multi-state, national steroid distribution investigation targeting compounding pharmacies, like Signature Compouding Pharmacy and Applied Pharmacy Services, and anti-aging and longevity clinics, conducted by David Soares and the Office of the Albany County District Attorney. Information leaked to the press from the investigation has linked top IFBB pro bodybuilders to various anti-aging clinics, including Ronnie Coleman (Cellular Nucleonic Advantage in Sugarland, TX) and Victor Martinez (Anti-Aging Centers in Nanuet, NY); no pro bodybuilder has been targeted for prosecution as part of David Soares’ investigation Read more
Albany Times-Union reporter Brendan Lyons’ coverage of the Signature Pharmacy anabolic steroid scandal is being exposed as little more than a public relations campaign created in conjunction with the Albany County District Attorney’s Office. It appears that “Soares’ loyalist” Brendan Lyons obtained most of his inside stories from the District Attorney David Soares’ Director of Operations, Christian D’Alessandro. D’Allessandro happens to be a close personal friend of Brendan Lyons (”Legal Opinions Support Finding Soares Misused Funds,” October 15).
The Times-Union and Lyons, who is said to have a long time association with Christian D’Allessandro, Soares top deputy…
Albany Times-Union Editor Rex Smith has vigorously defended Brendan Lyons’ use of confidential sources, like his best friend Chris D’Allessandro, in the Signature Pharmacy journalistic investigation into the distribution of performance enhancing drugs. Smith stressed the need for “federal shield laws” to give reporters like Brendan Lyons “constitutional protection against divulging his sources.”
But is the public good best served when a veil of secrecy hides the incestuous relationship between the fourth estate and prosecutor’s office? Should such cozy relationships between local newspapers and the District Attorney’s Office be disclosed especially when it results in stories that uncritically promote the agenda of the District Attorney?
Brendan Lyons has long been accused of being the defacto public relations agent of the Albany County District Attorney Office and the publicity-seeking David Soares. This would explain why the Albany Times-Union was oblivious to the incompetence of David Soares in his case against Signature Pharmacy and unaware of potential civil rights violations by David Soares office. Perhaps, the friendships between the Albany Times-Union and the District Attorney’s Office obscured the objectivity of the steroid reporting?
The revelation about the relationship between Brendan Lyons and Chris D’Allessandro definitely reframes questions about Lyons’ investigative journalism into the growth hormone and anabolic steroid scandal Read more
The attorneys for Signature Pharmacy have requested a court hearing to defend patients against violations of due-process rights by the State of Florida. The State of Florida sent out letters to thousands of clients who have had prescriptions filled by Signature Pharmacy; they were notified that their prescription records had been seized by the State and subject to review by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution (”Signature Pharmacy sues prosecutors in ‘07 case,” October 12).
On another matter, attorneys for Signature also requested a hearing before Osceola Circuit Court Judge John Marshall Kest about the pharmacy’s clients. The state wants to examine prescriptions filled by Signature and sent letters to several thousand clients.
According to the motion filed, the state did not date the letters but told the clients they had 30 days to respond. Signature attorneys filed an objection, saying it violates the patients’ due-process rights.
The letters have alarmed many clients of Signature Pharmacy since private medical records seized from Signature Pharmacy have previously been “leaked” to the media by prosecutors in a concerted effort to smear and embarrass prominent individuals as part of a steroid witch-hunt Read more
Prosecutors representing the State of Florida and Albany County (New York) methodically planned to prosecute Signature Pharmacy in two separate steroid investigations in a manner that would deprive the defendants of protections against double jeopardy according to court documents.
William N. Shepherd, the Statewide Prosecutor for the Florida Attorney General, and David Soares and Christopher Baynes, prosecutors for the Albany County District Attorney’s Office in New York allegedly had a secret in-person meeting where they specifically planned complex legal proceedings in two jurisdictions to make it more difficult for Signature to defend itself. The plan was detailed in a report by Mark Haskins, an investigator with the New York Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, who worked with Albany County District Attorney David Soares in the Signature Pharmacy steroid investigation.
Signature Pharmacy has filed a lawsuit against District Attorney David Soares and the Albany County District Attorney’s Office over its steroid investigation entitled “Operation Which Doctor.” The Signature Pharmacy steroid scandal implicated numerous professional athletes and entertainers including top pro bodybuilders. Several months later, an Albany County judge dismissed the criminal indictments against the principals at Signature Pharmacy due to the incompetence of prosecutor David Soares.
Signature Pharmacy and its owners, Stan and Naomi Loomis, allege that David Soares illegally operated outside his jurisdiction in the steroid investigation and prosecuted them without probable cause; Signature Pharmacy further alleges that David Soares is a political opportunist who flew in an Albany Times-Union reporter and tipped off local media to cover an unnecessary steroid raid that was clearly designed as a photo op to promote Soares’ celebrity during an election year Read more
Albany County District Attorney David Soares spent millions of dollars in taxpayer money on a steroid witch-hunt against athletes and entertainers. The nation’s steroid hysteria facilitated extensive news and media coverage of the sensationalistic outing of steroid users. The lack of true investigative journalism allowed a corrupt, fraudulent and incompetent prosecutor to gain national headlines as an anti-steroid crusader while recklessly misusing his political office.
Is it any wonder that our country is in deep economic trouble given that our news gatekeepers have obsessed over the use of anabolic steroids by professional athletes and entertainers rather than investigate the fraud, corruption, and incompetence of government blowhards spearheading the steroid witch hunt?
Steroid legal expert Rick Collins of Collins, McDonald and Gann forwarded a local editorial suggesting the popularity of the political opportunist known as David Soares is rapidly sinking. The dismissal of the Signature Pharmacy steroid case is the apparently the least of David Soares problems.
Albany County District Attorney David Soares was so preoccupied with the Signature Pharmacy steroid investigation in FLORIDA, the APS Pharmacy investigation in ALABAMA and numerous longevity clinics in states around the country, he was too busy to prosecute over 322 felons who had to be released from jail in HIS OWN DISTRICT in Albany County. Many of his constituents now feel that Soares should spend more time prosecuting local cases and less on the national steroid investigations Read more
The Florida Attorney General’s Office is waiting 30 days before reviewing the private prescription records of thousands of clients who used the services of Signature Pharmacy. Clients of Signature Pharmacy have 30 days to file a written objection to prevent an invasion of their prescription records by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution. If the State of Florida does not receive a written objection, they may use and submit your prescription records in a state case against Signature Pharmacy.
The Albany County District Attorney’s steroid distribution case against Signature Pharmacy (Operation Which Doctor) was recently dismissed due to the incompetence of prosecutor David Soares. As a result, David Soares is not permitted to seek charges against Signature Pharmacy effectively wasting millions of dollars from the coffers of Albany County.
The Florida Attorney General’s is hoping that David Soares has not irreparably damaged a criminal case against against Stan and Naomi Loomis, the Signature Pharmacy owners, pharmacist Michael Loomis or Signature Pharmacy employees Kirk Calvert and Anthony Palladino. Read more
A judge dismissed the criminal indictments against the principals in the Signature Pharmacy steroid distribution case citing the incompetence of Albany County District Attorney David Soares. Soares is the lead prosecutor for a small county in New York who had taken it upon himself to spend possibly millions of dollars of Albany residents taxpayer money to carry on a nationwide steroid witch hunt dubbed “Operation Which Doctor“. Critics of the steroid witch hunt, opponents of anti-steroid legislation and voices in Albany law enforcement have long been critical of David Soare’s incompetence.
The ruling means that prosecutor David Soares can no longer seek charges against Stan and Naomi Loomis, the Signature Pharmacy owners, pharmacist Michael Loomis or Signature Pharmacy employees Kirk Calvert and Anthony Palladino.
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) Read more
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.
Shortly after IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Victor Martinez won the 2007 Arnold Classic, Albany County District Attorney David Soare’s office publicly named Victor Martinez as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Signature Pharmacy and longevity clinic anabolic steroid scandal. Clearly, the intent and timing of the announcement represented a calculated grandstanding opportunity for David Soares to tarnish Governor Arnold Schwazenegger’s association with professional bodybuilding.
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.
