Steroid use among teens troubles Web investigators, By: Stacey Singer and Tony Doris
March 25, 2007
He had a Florida medical license, a drug-prescribing number and a résumé that showed all the right degrees.
With his fabricated papers in order, the undercover cop from New York penetrated a steroid enterprise whose Internet-pumped arms may have reached from Boca Raton to Albany, pulling in teenagers, middle-aged people who wanted to feel like teenagers and pro athletes.
The investigation has taken more than three years and has netted 14 arrests in Florida so far, plus seven more in New York and Texas. More arrests may be imminent as state and federal authorities pore through tens of thousands of steroid and hormone prescriptions.
Most recently, it has shaken the championship wrestling team at Jupiter Christian High School, the smallest school to win a state wrestling title. During a search of a Jupiter-based Internet business, doping equipment and the banned anabolic steroid Stanolol were discovered in the desk of Chris Ruh, the son of Jupiter Christian's coach.
Pro athletes who abuse steroids often make top news. Baseball players Jose Canseco and John Rocker, former heavyweight champion boxer Evander Holyfield and 1996 Olympic wrestling gold medalist Kurt Angle have been connected to the unfolding controversy.
But investigators said they are most troubled at the number of teens they've discovered ordering steroids.
"We're finding a lot of kids, 15, 16," said Alex Wright, an investigator with the Orlando police department. "It's a simple thing. ... They get a prepaid credit card at Albertson's, and suddenly they're playing better basketball and their parents don't know why."
The pursuit of muscles could exact a terrible price from the athletes. Abuse of the hormones has been linked to heart enlargement, testicular atrophy, sterility, diabetes and organ failure.
Zeroing in on Signature
A group of South Florida doctors and entrepreneurs provided much of the marketing muscle for a central dispensary in Orlando, according to court documents and interviews. At least some of the powerful drugs it formulated may have been manufactured in China, one source said.
Signature Pharmacy shipped prescriptions throughout the nation for the Internet businesses, based in Jupiter, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Cooper City, Davie, Miami and possibly more, investigators said.
An attorney for Signature denied the allegations, saying it is a brick-and-mortar compounding pharmacy that handles only legal drugs, catering primarily to Baby Boomers combating aging, women seeking custom blends for estrogen replacement, dialysis patients and children with dwarfism.
But investigators allege that the companies' customers were frequently bodybuilders and student athletes willing to spend $900 an order for highly regulated anabolic steroids, painkillers, hormones and estrogen inhibitors, usually without face-to-face meetings with a doctor.
To cover themselves, the clinics insisted that their patients obtain blood work. The clinics sent in signed prescriptions bearing the names of legitimate physicians.
The Internet-based firms had names evoking luxury day spas: "Palm Beach Rejuvenation," "Palm Beach Life Extension," "Oasis Longevity and Rejuvenation" and "Infinity Rejuvenation." Their Web sites promised better workouts, more muscles, more energy and better sex.
So lucrative was the trade that, in 2006, Signature's estimated revenues hit $40 million, said Heather Orth, a spokeswoman for Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares.
An attorney for Signature's executives said they have pleaded not guilty and plan to defend themselves aggressively.
"There is nothing illegal about filling a prescription for an athlete, whether it is for cortisone or testosterone or a cold remedy," said attorney Amy Tingley. "It is the responsibility of the physician to ensure that any medication containing a controlled substance is prescribed for a legitimate medical reason and in the ordinary scope of practice."
Potpourri of patrons
Customers have ranged from professional bodybuilders to working people, according to investigators' affidavits.
A New York engineer said he had been an avid body builder since his college days. Even after he developed diabetes, he kept juicing. He needed it to maintain a healthy lifestyle and libido, he said.
A sergeant with the New York State Department of Corrections took HGH, testosterone and Clomid after speaking with Dr. Gary Brandwein, an osteopathic physician who lives in Boca Raton. The two never met, he told police. Brandwein, charged with six counts of the criminal sale of a controlled substance, has pleaded not guilty.
And there was Ronnie Coleman, eight-time "Mr. Olympia" body-building champion. He had taken anabolic steroids for a decade, he admitted to investigators. The drugs found at his Arlington, Texas, home were dispensed by Signature Pharmacy, according to court records.
The practice was profitable for doctors comfortable bending or looking beyond state examine-the-patient rules, Orth said.
A New York doctor who had lost her license, Anna Marie Santi, made $7,500 a week for signing prescriptions at $25 a pop, Orth said. She lost her license, then allegedly forged another doctor's name 300 times a week. On Tuesday, Santi became the first person to plead guilty - to one count.
"Clearly, she wasn't meeting with that many patients a week," Orth said.
Investigator: $50 per scrip
The undercover investigator, posing as a doctor, negotiated even higher rates from clinics in South Florida.
With bogus credentials supplied by the Florida Department of Health, New York narcotics investigator Mark Haskins said in court documents that he negotiated pay of $50 per prescription from Oasis Rejuvenation of Boca Raton and Delray Beach.
He would earn upwards of $3,000 a week, they told him.
"Oasis Rejuvenation sent pre-written prescriptions to me on Nov. 14, 2006, with the expectation that I would sign them and be paid $50 per prescription," Haskins wrote. "All the prescriptions were for anabolic steroids and related compounds."
Oasis was launched with the help of a retired Fort Lauderdale surgeon, Dr. James Raffa. Raffa, who has not been charged, said he was running a pain clinic in Fort Lauderdale when Oasis' owners sought him out, with a proposal.
"They asked me how it could be done as a medical practice over the Internet," he said last week.
"I told them that, basically, there had to be the components of a medical encounter, including a physical examination done by a physician who was familiar with the patient, which could be their doctor where they lived."
That's how Oasis was set up to operate, Raffa said.
"They just kind of went a little crazy," he said.
As for having prescriptions written without seeing patients: "I told them not to do that. Just not to do it."
Prosecutors believe that he did write prescriptions for out-of-state customers, sight unseen. Asked whether he had examined a California patient involved in the case, Raffa hung up.
Lawyers for some of those involved believed they stayed on the right side of the law by following that advice: asking customers to see physicians and have blood work done where they lived.
Dr. Robert Carlson, a Sarasota heart surgeon who wrote prescriptions for Jupiter-based Palm Beach Rejuvenation, did so because he received bad advice from a New York attorney Rick Collins, argued Carlson's defense attorney, Charles R. Holloman.
"These lawyers now have lawyers, too," Holloman said. Collins is the author of a book for steroid users called Legal Muscle that touts itself as the legal bible on the possession, use and sale of steroids. He offers users ten commandments for staying out of trouble. First, he advises, "Don't juice."
If they insist, he says, "treat your loved ones at home with respect," so that police on a domestic abuse call don't find drug gear.
"Recognize that your trash says a lot about you," he continues, because police in search of evidence might find it, he warns.
In a statement, Collins defended his legal advice.
"My firm has always made clear to our clients that the current law does not permit controlled substances to be prescribed for other than a legitimate medical purpose and within the usual course of professional practice in a valid physician-patient relationship," he wrote. "We firmly stand by our advice."
Carlson has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of criminal sale and diversion of controlled substances. He became involved with Palm Beach Rejuvenation at the request of Joseph L. Raich, Carlson's brother in law, Holloman said. Raich, who has not been charged, is a vice president and director of Palm Beach Rejuvenation according to state records. He's been a longtime booster of Jupiter Christian wrestling. High school wrestling coach Robin Ruh's son, Chris, 28, had been an employee of Palm Beach Rejuvenation. A Florida High School Athletic Association spokesperson said they're now looking into the question of steroids at the school.
Like Carlson, two others have been charged in connection with the operation of Palm Beach Rejuvenation: Glenn and George Stefanos. They have pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal sale and diversion of controlled substances.
Also pleading not guilty are the president and vice president of Oasis in Delray Beach and Boca Raton, Elaine Sorrells, 37, of Boynton Beach, and Courtney Sorrells-Loceff, 30, of Port St. Lucie. They were charged with five counts of attempted criminal sale and diversion of a prescription for a controlled substance and conspiracy.
As the investigation accelerates, Collins' lawyer, Holloman, said he expects another seven or eight doctors to face charges.
"A lot of doctors apparently had gotten real slack about this issue," Holloman said. "Now the doctors are looking back at what they were prescribing and saying, 'Oh damn, the heat's on, I might have a problem.''"
Athletes may be worrying, too. Orth said they have good reason to be concerned.
"If professional athletes' names turn up, they'll be sent to their respective leagues," she said.
