Kenneth Herbert, one of the principals behind the anabolic steroid underground labs TexStar Labs, Phalco Labs and Nassau Pharmaceuticals, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids and has agreed to cooperate with federal authorities. In exchange, prosecutors will drop 28 other counts listed in the federal indictment including money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Kenneth Herbert and his common law wife were arrested in September 2007 as part of Operation Raw Deal. Another steroid distributor who was arrested on March 28, 2007 in a related investigation provided information to the DEA that led to crackdown on the UGL.
Authorities claim they operated one of the largest underground labs (UGL) in the country. Court records show the following items were seized from Herbert’s residence:
Four pill/tablet presses, approximately eight kilograms of raw steroid powders, over 100,000 steroid pill/tablets, a clandestine steroids laboratory, and a large volume of glassware, vials, and bottling supplies. The items seized were consistent with a large scal steroids laboratory capable of producing at least 50,000 tablets per hour.
Kenneth Herbert is scheduled for sentencing on May 1, 2008. He faces up to 5 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $250,000. Prosecutors will recommend sentencing at the low end of federal guidelines assuming the Herbert provides “substantial assistance” in agreeing to “cooperate, debrief and, if necessary, testify.”
NPC bodybuilder Joseph Mobareki was arrested by investigators from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department after they discovered vial(s) of anabolic steroids in his car after he was pulled over for speeding. This led to a search warrant for his house and a storage facility. Police discovered 30,000 pills and 100 vials of anabolic steroids.
Police arrested Mobareki on one count each of possession and dealing marijuana, six counts of possessing a controlled substance and seven counts of dealing those drugs.
Police have been monitoring his activities at the Center Grove Health Club in Greenwood, Indiana where Mobareki worked as a personal trainer.
Mr. Indiana Joseph Mobareki has competed in various amateur bodybuilding contests since 2000, including NPC Indiana Bodybuilding Championships, IFBB North American Championships, NPC USA contest and NPC Junior Nationals.
Flex Online reports that all felony and misdemeanor steroid and controlled substance charges against Hidetada Yamagishi were dismissed except for one misdemeanor count of possession of Viagra without a prescription which Hide pleaded no contest. This is the best possible outcome for Hide according to his attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley.
I met with Mr. Lynch who is the Head Deputy of the District Attorney’s office yesterday… I presented him a packet of materials. Not only declarations from people indicating that there was no way in the world that the amount of steroids that he possessed was for distribution but also…a lot of character letters. Also, our concern is what is going to happen in the immigration court. We had an extensive letter from the immigration attorney talking about what is likely to happen in the immigration proceedings. I wanted the DA to consider all of these things because this is a great guy, a great competitor and a great athlete who had no intention of selling or distributing any of these compounds. And he is also going to have to face a number of serious consequences with regard to immigration and with regard to whatever sponsorships he has. So I wanted to take all of that into consideration and assess what made sense.
Hide Yamagishi has been released from the custody of the State of California and transported into federal custody at the Federal Correctional Institute in San Pedro, California. It is uncertain whether he will be able to remain in the United States after he appears in immigration court. He may be deported immediately to Japan where he will have to try to re-establish his travel visa.
IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Hidetada Yamagishi has retained one of the top Hollywood defense attorneys, Shawn Chapman Holley to defend him in his legal case involving steroid possession and steroid distribution; Holley is a uber celebrity attorney with an impressive resume defending celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Nicole Richey, rapper The Game and Michelle Rodriguez.
Shawn Chapman Holley is a Partner at Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP, the chief legal correspondent for E! Entertainment Television, the former Managing Partner of the Los Angeles office of the Cochran Firm, former head of the Cochran Firm’s national Criminal Defense Section.
She is probably best known as a member of O.J. Simpson’s defense team, aka the “Dream Team,” in Simpson’s criminal murder trial. She has extensive legal experience in high-profile cases:
Ms. Holley successfully defended Sara Jane Olson in her highly-publicized cases involving crimes committed by the Symbionese Liberation Army more than twenty-eight years ago. Her clients have included Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, actors Stan Shaw and Nia Long, and NBA basketball stars Larry Johnson and Byron Scott. She was also a member of the defense team which successfully represented celebrated Black Panther leader Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt in a highly-publicized hearing which resulted in his release from prison after more than twenty-five years and the reversal of his murder conviction. Ms. Holley is Chief Legal Correspondent for the E! Network, providing on-air commentary on topical legal issues concerning entertainers and the entertainment industry. She was on-air legal analyst for KABC Eyewitness News in Los Angeles for several years and appears frequently on the Today Show, Good Morning America, PrimeTime Live, The O’Reilly Factor, Court TV, Fox News and CNN. She was a featured lawyer on Fox TV’s Power of Attorney for two seasons and was most recently featured as an on-air legal analyst on the E! Network’s nightly international coverage of the Michael Jackson trial.
With the benefit of Shawn Chapman Holley, Hide may able to get out of jail next week on reduced misdemeanor charges with time served, avoid deportation, and continue to compete in IFBB pro bodybuilding contests in the United States.
Hidetada Yamagishi’s defense attorney provided court documents to Flex Online including details of steroid-related charges against him. The court documents provide details of the anabolic steroid stack imported by IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Hidetada Yamagishi when he was arrested on his arrival in the United States to compete in the 2008 IFBB Iron Man Pro and 2008 IFBB Arnold Classic as well as other pro bodybuilding shows:
Flex Online spoke with the attorney for Hidetada Yamagishi and confirmed the steroid-related charges against Hide that we first learned over three weeks ago from Muscletime. Allan Donnelly writes:
Yamagishi is charged with six felonies and three misdemeanors.
The felonies are: unlawful possess for sale and purchase for sale a controlled substance, trenbolone; unlawful possess for sale and purchase for sale a controlled substance, testosterone; unlawful possess for sale and purchase for sale a controlled substance chorionic gonadotropin; unlawful possess for sale and purchase for sale of a controlled substance mesterolone; unlawful possess for sale and purchase for sale of a controlled substance, oxandrolone; unlawful transport, import into the state of California, sell, furnish, administer and give away and offer to transport, import into the State of California, sell furnish, administer and give away, and attempt to import into the State of California and transport a controlled substance trenbolone, chorionic gonadotropin, testosterone, mesterolone, oxandrolone and stanozolol.
Shawn Chapman Holley, Hide’s defense attorney, confirmed that the amount and quantity of anabolic steroids and ancillary drugs found in Hidetada’s luggage at LAX was consistent with personal use for a competitive bodybuilder.
It’s clear that the quantity of steroids at issue is consistent with personal use and far less than one would expect to see in a case of sales. Moreover the quantity is consistent with what one would expect to see for a bodybuilder with the competition schedule Hide had posted on his Website before his arrest.
The State of California is apparently abusing misusing the law by attempting to prosecute Hidetada Yamagishi as a distributor of anabolic steroids; Hidetada clearly had no intent to sell steroids only to compete in professional bodybuilding competitions.
California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, knows a thing or two about the quantity and type of anabolic steroids and ancillary drugs included in precontest bodybuilding steroid stacks. He could easily confirm that the steroid stack imported by Hide was consistent with personal use by a professional bodybuilder. Someone should appeal directly to Arnold Schwarzenegger and ask that he explain this to California prosecutors.
There is a good chance that Hide’s defense attorney will be able to do the same and reach a plea agreement to misdemeanor charges on behalf of Hidetada Yamagishi.
I am hopeful that on February 6th we will have worked out a deal where, hopefully he will plead guilty to a misdemeanor count and be placed on summary probation with credit for time served and that will be the end of the criminal case.
Nonetheless, it is terrible that Hide will have spent no less than 8 weeks incarcerated on trumped up charges.
Another internet-based anabolic steroid source arrested in Opeartion Raw Deal in the fall of 2007 has pleaded guilty. Robert Cashmon of New Hampshire pleaded guilty to six counts including “possession of anabolic steroids with intent to distribute,” “conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids,” “receipt in interstate commerce of misbranded drugs” and “laundering of monetary instruments.” Specific steroids sold by Cashmon as cited in the indictment include oxymetholone, methandrostenolone and misbranded stanozolol (misbranded as CP Winstrol).
Cashmon is scheduled for sentencing on April 28, 2008.
IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Art Atwood was approached by the Dallas/Fort Worth CBS affiliate and asked about his involvement in a federal steroid investigation. Atwood was asked about potential steroid charges that he may face, concern about jail, and his association with David Jacobs who has agreed to a plea bargain in the steroid investigation.
University of Mississippi quarterback recruit, Jared Foster, was arrested for selling anabolic steroids by Madison County Sheriff’s Department Narcotics Division. Foster had been attending classes and informally working out with the Ole Miss football team. In light of the steroid arrest, the University of Mississippi has kicked Foster off the team and has withdrawn his full college scholarship to play football at Ole Miss.
Two years ago, when Foster was a senior in high school, police discovered anabolic steroids in his home. He was arrested on underage drinking charges. The underage drinking charges were dropped and no steroid possession charges were ever filed because Foster agreed to cooperate with local authorities in a joint steroid investigation by the Madison Police Department and the Madison County Sheriff’s Department.
Foster is being detained at the Madison County Detention Center on the steroid-related charges.
Allan Donnelly of Flex Magazine reports that IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Hidetada Yamagishi’s preliminary court date on steroid possession and steroid distribution charges has been rescheduled to February 6, 2008. Hide was said to have “missed” the bus transporting him to his originally scheduled hearing on January 23, 2008; when he did arrive, Los Angelese Superior Court was unable to provide a court-appointed Japanese translator. So, the judge rescheduled the hearing two weeks later. Meanwhile, Hidetada returns to jail to continue to wait for his day in court.
It seems to be that it was the State’s responsible to deliver Hide to court on time and, when that was not possible, at least be able to provide a Japanese translator. Rescheduling the court date to almost two weeks later due to State incompetence doesn’t seem very fair to Hide.
