The 17-year old Matthew Wong was arrested by the Grapevine Police Department on six count of manufacturing and distributing anabolic steroids. The teenager allegedly made the steroids in his own underground lab on a “quiet street where children play.” Police also arrested 26-year-old Averil Cavazos on steroid distribution charges (”Grapevine police bust alleged steroid operation,” April 14).
“Anybody could be their clients,” said Sgt. Kim Smith with the Grapevine Police Department. “We don’t have any information on who their client base was.”
Police issued a strongly worded warning about steroids.
“It can become addictive and can become dangerous and fatal,” Smith said.
The media and law enforcement continue to remind the public about the fatal dangers of steroids.
The Norfolk County Police Anti-Crime Task Force and Millis Police Department busted Daniel Pease on steroid distribution and steroid conspiracy charges. Pease purchased raw steroid powders from China and manufactured oral and injectable steroids in an underground lab in his apartment.
This was a relatively small-time steroid bust except that authorities discovered a how-to-make-anabolic-steroids instruction list in Pease’ apartment. Authorities revealed that elephant and dog tranquilizers were mixed with other chemicals to magically create anabolic steroids (”Millis man charged with steroid production,” April 14)?!
Detective Domenic Tiberi said more than $5,000 worth of steroids, 300 to 400 syringes and several chemicals, including elephant and dog tranquilizers, were confiscated …
Police believe different chemicals, such as the animal tranquilizers, were mixed together to make the steroids.
Police provided additional insight on the illicit underground steroid market by estimating that 20 vials of injectable steroids and 100 steroid tablets could supply steroid cycles for about 30 people.
Police found enough steroids to supply 30 people, Tiberi said.
At least 100 manufactured capsules were found in the apartment along with 20 bottles ready to be injected.
Through training, experience and undercover work, police were able to identify the chemicals, Tiberi said.
Pease or the Millis Police Department did not realize that steroids were already as dangerous as methamphetamines without the addition of “elephant tranquilizers.”
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.
Two men were sitting in a parked car in the New Springville Barnes & Noble parking lot Sunday night. Police decided to search their vehicle because they were “acting furtively.” This a euphemistic way of saying they looked guilty and they were up to no good! (”2 Staten Island men had $800 worth of steroids, cops say,” March 25)
Cops got wise to the car’s occupants… after they spotted the duo “acting furtively” in their car at about 9:00 p.m., a police source said.
The store was closed for the night, and the two men were parked next to a second, vacant car, the source alleged.
When police searched the car, they found about $800 worth of steroids — pills, bottles and a liquid capsule of testosterone and other substances, court papers allege.
Both men were charged with three counts each of fifth- and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
It seems clear the men possessed the anabolic steroids for personal use.
“Acting furtively” is apparently sufficient reason to invite police to search your car. This is yet another reason why it is advisable to “just say ‘no’ to police searches.”
More than 2000 vials of a banned steroid have been found by Customs officials inside a parcel sent to Sydney from Thailand.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the steroid seizure by customs in February has resulted in ongoing steroid busts in Sydney Australia (”Steroids found in Thai parcel: customs,” April 1).
Customs officers at Australia Post’s Gateway Facility in Sydney found the 2,378 ampoules of Sustanon 250, Stanozol and Nandrolone in plastic bags after examining a parcel from Thailand said to contain glass figures…
After finding the drugs in the mail on February 19, Customs investigators executed search warrants on premises in south-western Sydney last Friday and seized evidentiary material.
Investigations into the major steroid seizure are continuing.
Customs national manager for investigations, Richard Janezcko, said the agency was “continuing to detect and investigate increased attempts to smuggle prohibited and restricted performance enhancing drugs into Australia”.
Australia’s war on steroids is one of the most aggressive in the world, perhaps even more draconian than the efforts by the United States.
The sums of money Arnold was making were “very low,” she said. “I think we should have charged more.”
Pat confirmed via email that he only made $15-20 thousand over the course of the THREE YEARS he provided tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) and norbolethone to elite athletes while working with Victor Conte. The government calls a $5,000 a year operation a major steroid bust?!
While the BALCO steroid bust involving undetectable performance enhancing drugs was a big deal to Pat Arnold et al and the athletes involved, the dismantling of BALCO had practically no direct impact on the commercial trade of anabolic steroids on the black market. However, the role of the BALCO scandal as the impetus for the current steroid hysteria can not be underestimated.
Brian Wainstein, one of the owners of GenXXL, served 4 months in prison for the unlawful possession, sale, and distribution of anabolic steroids. Wainstein served only four months out of a 2 year suspended sentence.
Brian Wainstein (42) - a South African national with an address at Bank Lodge, Knockraheen, Roundwood in Co Wicklow - received the orders for the banned drugs by e-mail from customers all over the world, including the USA.
Aaaah…yes. Brilliant. Put your real public address and attach it to a fucking site where you are breaking your own countries law plus international law. Brilliant. Better yet, have your screen name be “England” or something brilliant like that, and then sell steroids on a public website from “England”.
By marketing anabolic steroids on his website GenXXL.com under the GenXXL Gear brand, he publicly provided authorities with the physical location where the anabolic steroids were stored and shipped.
He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to nine charges arising out of the unlawful possession sale and distribution of the illicit substances at Croswaithe Park South, Dun Laoghaire in 2003.
The address from which Wainstein distributed anabolic steroids was the same as the publicly published address listed online:
27 Crossthwaite Park West
Dunloaghaire, Co Dublin
This highlights the lack of sophistication (among other things) that exists in the underground labs that produce anabolic steroids. Consumers of steroids produced by underground labs must not only be concerned by the quality control issues arising from amateur UGLs but also the legal risks associated with illicitly buying from steroid dealers who are unable to maintain minimum standards of discretion for their own operations much less their customers.
Axio Labs has been publicly linked to Brian Wainstein and GenXXL.com for some time, both before and after Wainstein was busted. Recently, Axio Labs has also stopped shipping anabolic steroids to the United States; long claiming to be the “next British Dragon,” Axio Labs now no longer wants to be associated with British Dragon after the steroid bust in Thailand and the co-founder’s extradition to the United States. There has been a lot of anxiety about the status of Axio Labs after the recent events involving the British Dragon bust. Axio Labs alleged association with Brian Wainstein only heightens that anxiety.
Bottom line - while it is never a good idea to illegally import anabolic steroids into the United States, it is a particularly bad time now.
The people running the underground lab “Othala Labs” were arrested in North Carolina last Thursday by officers from the Gastonia Police Department. Christopher K. Gore and Brad Jonathan Dyer were arrested and each released on $150,000 unsecured bond (”Police find thousands of grams of steroids,” March 23).
Christopher K. Gore… faces charges of possessing steroids, manufacturing steroids, possessing steroids with the intent to sell and deliver them, labeling counterfeit steroids, maintaining a residence for keeping steroids, maintaining a vehicle to keep and sell steroids and conspiring to violate state law by distributing anabolic steroids…
Dyer faces charges of possessing steroids, possessing steroids with the intent to sell and deliver them, selling and delivering steroids and conspiring to violate state law by distributing anabolic steroids.
Othala Labs was actually busted last summer (June 2007) when local authorities discovered anabolic steroids in Gore’s residence whose entire perimeter was surrounded by a chain link fence and guarded by three boxer dogs. Shortly afterwards, the primary internet source of Othala Labs was accused of turning “scammer” on the Internet message boards.
Police found more than 700 tablets and almost 3,000 grams of various kinds of steroids in June 2007, according to warrants.
Gore sold Brad Jonathan Dyer, 26, of the 800 block of East Zion Church Road, Shelby, 10 bottles of steroids, according to arrest warrants…
Police found Dyer had more than 200 tablets of two different kinds of anabolic steroids and 22 bottles of three different types of steroids in June 2007, according to arrest warrants. Dyer attempted to sell three types of steroid, according to arrest warrants.
It is unclear why it took 9 months before arrest warrants were issued.
Two of the best-known and most successful internet sources of anabolic steroids have been arrested at a Pattaya seaside resort in Thailand as part of an international sting operation involving the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). They will be extradited to the United States on “charges of using the Internet to illegally export steroids to the United States” (”Two Britons arrested in Thailand after sting operation: police,” March 21)
Police gave the names of the two detained men as Ashly Vincent Livingston, 45, and Edwin Richard Crawly, 44. They were arrested in a sting operation involving US anti-drug agents, police said.
Anthony Roberts called me to identity Edwin Richard Crawly as one of the founders of British Dragon and to identify Ashly Vincent Livingston as Redicat. Anthony broke the story on his blog.
Thai authorities have told the media that the two Britons did not do anything illegal in Thailand. Consequently, they face no charges in Thailand.
Livingston and Crawly set up an online store to sell steroids to customers in the United States. Steroids are legal in Thailand but are a controlled substance in the US.
The police later arrested Mr.Edwin Richard Crawley (44) a British national who lives in the house, which he had used as the centre of operations for his business. According to the police report, Mr. Edwin Richard Crawley originally opened a company called” Nutri Med. Co. Ltd.” registered as an import-export company…
Another police team also searched a single house opposite and found Mr. Graisorn Tongrak (31) the son- in-law of Mr.Edwin Richard Crawley, who was looking after the house for his father- in-law…
After that, the police took both suspects to search another building in the same soi, registered as a company called” Vincent Centre Service Co. Ltd. operating a postal and utility bill payment service. Here, however, police found several empty bags of drugs, called “British Dragon” and 2,500 copies of steroid instruction sheets.
The D.E.A. officers took the steroids away for evidence. They also searched a warehouse behind the Nutri Med. company office, where they found and confiscated two machines used to pack steroids and also seized two land deed papers relating to the two houses, a Toyota car, a BMW R1200 RT motorbike, and 13 bank books which contained millions of baht; in total property worth about Bt 20 million.
A third group of police later arrested Mr.Ashley Vincent Livingston (45) British, and Mrs. Jirawan Livingston(38) , his wife, living at a house in Moo. 10, Soi Kow Noi, Pattaya Hill 1. According to the information police had received, they all belonged to the same gang, whose big boss was Edwin Richard Crawley. At this house, the police did not find any evidence, but seized a land deed paper, a Honda and a Toyota car, jewellery, Bt 100,000 in cash, and six bank books, which had many tens of millions of baht in the accounts. Police Major General, Amaresrit Wattanawiboon, revealed that Thai police were originally notified by the D.E.A. that they had intercepted steroids, which had been delivered to America in plain envelopes and on investigation, discovered that the biggest operation was in Pattaya . Mr. Edwin (the big boss) had been importing steroids from China through the Internet and then forwarding them to USA and Europe. On receipt, customers would send money to his account in Thailand. Some of the goods were sent to Pattaya and repacked in dolls or fruit, to be sent to Europe by parcel or in plain envelopes. Mr. Ashley had been worked with Mr. Edwin as his assistant, finding customers for him. This operation had been running since 1999. It made him a millionaire, being able to afford to buy property in Pattaya worth Bt 20 million.
The anabolic steroid black market is on the verge of being driven completely underground meaning steroids will likely travel same channels as black market narcotics. Obviously, this makes the use of black market androgens more dangerous than ever.
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.
