Internet Steroid Sting: Soares Meets with NFL & MLB Reps

March 8, 2007

Batter up! The big boys of baseball and football came to town Wednesday, investigating the connection between Albany County District Attorney David Soares' steroid sting and pro athletes.

Representatives from the National Football League and Major League Baseball met with Soares, getting the low-down on the ongoing steroid case - which continues to unfold. The meetings follow last week's raid of Orlando pharmacies and arrests of more than a dozen people, accused of buying and selling illegal steroids and human growth hormone.

Names of pro athletes who may be snared in the net have been coming out almost daily. NEWS10's John Craig was there as Wednesday's meetings played out.

More names continue to be disclosed in the steroid investigation originated in Albany County. The latest include former MLB stars John Rocker and David Bell, along with pro-wrestler and Olympic gold-medalist, Kurt Angle. Reports say those names have appeared on client lists, linked to questionable pharmacies that filled prescriptions.

As more names spill out, representatives from MLB and the NFL came to Albany to find out for themselves just what the D.A. Soares knows.

"(We're) here to see the District Attorney...we're meeting with him," NFL and MLB reps told reporters Wednesday, as they left the Albany County Courthouse. They would not comment on specifics of the meeting.

"I honestly feel that there is a movement afoot to change the way that professional sports is doing business," says Soares. "And I was very excited and very happy to have had those meetings today and those discussions, and that's the impression that they left me with."

Major League Baseball had an official commission on steroids for just about a year now with retired Senator George Mitchell heading up the commission. He and Soares' Office have been playing phone-tag, but they hope to communicate soon on this ongoing issue.

"My focus right now is not in providing any kind of testimony," Soares says. "My focus right now is making sure the company we do have is successfully prosecuted."

Soares says no names were discussed during the separate, hour-long meetings. But they have opened a dialogue.