Officer of probed clinic: Jupiter students never given performance-enhancing drugs, By: Hal Habib
April 23, 2007
Joseph L. Raich, a booster of Jupiter Christian School's wrestling program and vice president of an anti-aging clinic under investigation for the possible sale of steroids and human growth hormone, said today that no students at the school were given performance-enhancing drugs.
Raich helps run the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center, whose Jupiter office was raided as part of a three-year investigation of Internet medicine initiated by the district attorney in Albany, N.Y.
Prosecutors call Raich an unindicted co-conspirator.
Steroids and human growth hormone products were found in Raich's desk, according to search records filed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
After learning that steroids also were found in the desk of Rejuvenation Center employee Chris Ruh, son of Jupiter Christian wrestling coach Robin Ruh, the Florida High School Athletic Association launched an investigation to determine whether any wrestlers in the program were supplied drugs.
"Absolutely, positively, never, ever was any student at Jupiter Christian or any other high school anywhere ever given any performance-enhancing substance by me or anyone associated with me,†Raich said in an interview from the office of David Roth, his West Palm Beach attorney.
The FHSAA, citing its continuing investigation, would not comment. Jupiter Christian officials also declined to comment.
In February 2006, Jupiter Christian, with only 203 students in its high school, became the smallest school to win a state wrestling championship in the 42-year history of the event.
In recent seasons, two of Raich's sons have won individual state titles for the Eagles, and another was a bronze medalist.
Raich and his family have been longtime supporters of amateur wrestling in the area. Before the 2004 Athens Olympics, Raich hosted members of the U.S. Olympic Team at his spacious Jupiter home for five days of training at Cardinal Newman High.
Raich's partners with Palm Beach Rejuvenation include his brother-in-law, Dr. Robert G. Carlson, a cardiologist in Sarasota. Carlson was arrested in February and he has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of selling controlled substances.
Carlson was charged in New York, which prohibits doctors from writing prescriptions without face-to-face visits. Florida law has a similar prohibition, with a few exceptions for emergencies and other circumstances.
Friday, two persons involved with a Texas company that processed steroid orders pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the case against Orlando's Signature Pharmacy, which is in the center of the investigation.
Eugene Bolton, 40, owner of Cellular Nucleonic of Sugar Land, Texas, and employee Monday Miller, 38, each admitted to one drug count. Bolton faces up to six months in jail and five years' probation. Miller faces five years' probation.
