Looking for AAS? Forget Bally's.
Curt
list as well. To wit:
| Schlanger also served as a moderator on
| professionalmuscle.com, using his connections
| to find customers around Baltimore and across
| the country, according to Gumucio's account
| in court papers. /From the article (see below).
Note: Although I've never taken AAS, I do wish the U.S. government
would change their drug laws so that our jails will be emptied of
individuals who are only trying to satisfy their own needs
(recreational, personal, etc.) or, yes, to make a - what I'll perhaps
incorrectly characterize as harmless - buck. A buck that would be less
easily made if the government would sell and tax the product itself
rather than spending taxpayer dollars on interdiction and
incarceration.
Anyway.
I've been stopping at the Hess convenience store on Cameron Street
lately to pick up a black coffee and a newspaper or two. Sometimes I'll
fill the car up with gas. I'll often leave the newspapers in a stack
inside the door to read later. Hey, it's all news even if it's a week -
or a month - old. Found the following article in the December 9 issue
of the Baltimore Sun:
Steroid seizure among largest
By Matthew Dolan
Authorities found about 40,000 units of substance in locker
It seemed like a routine seizure when federal customs agents
intercepted a package of steroids at John F. Kennedy Airport in New
York. From JFK, the investigation led authorities to Anne Arundel
County to what they now call one of the largest stashes of man-made
muscle enhancers found in the region.
Federal authorities and Anne Arundel County police searched the locker
of the Bally's personal trainer last summer and wrote in court papers
that they found about 40,000 vials and tablets of suspected anabolic
steroids stuffed inside a locked chest.
"It's unprecedented, as far as we're concerned," said Floyd Pond,
deputy director of the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area task force program. Ed Marcinko, a spokesman for the
Drug Enforcement Administration in Baltimore, said he agreed with
Pond's assessment.
James Dinkins, the special agent in charge of the U.S. Immigrations and
Customs Enforcement's Baltimore office, said he could not answer
detailed questions about the investigation his office led because the
case is pending in U.S. District Court.
But sources familiar with the ICE investigation said that Schlanger
might have been responsible for trafficking in as many as 250,000
so-called units of steroids over the past five years.
Schlanger, 47, of Catonsville, could face up to five years in prison
and $250,000 in fines if convicted of federal drug conspiracy charges
after authorities said they arrested one of his employees picking up a
drug-filled package at a UPS store in July. A trial date has not been
scheduled, attorneys in the case said.
Andrew Alperstein, Schlanger's defense lawyer, said Friday that he and
his client had no comment on the charges.
A message left for the manager at Bally Total Fitness in Glen Burnie
about Schlanger's employment was not returned yesterday. Alperstein
said that his client has been released from federal custody to await
his trial.
Court papers filed in federal and state courts, and sources familiar
with the case, accuse Schlanger of working as a wholesale drug dealer
who cast a wide net for customers, importing the muscle-building drugs
through the mail from China and then reselling the steroids in the
Baltimore region and nationally through the Internet.
Authorities said in court papers that Schlanger's activities came to
light when customs agents intercepted a package filled 3,038 units -
usually either a vial or tablet - of steroids at John F. Kennedy
Airport in New York City on July 5. The parcel was addressed to
"Country Crafts," a federal agent wrote.
While agents investigated, two more packages arrived, one from China
and one from Great Britain, court papers show. Authorities reported
they contained 960 vials of Igtropin, an insulin-like growth steroid
and testosterone enanthate.
Federal authorities brought in Anne Arundel County police to set up a
"controlled delivery" of the drugs July 13 to the UPS store in Severna
Park. When a man, Pierre R. Gumucio, retrieved the packages, he and his
girlfriend, Rachael Ann Martin were arrested, officials said.
Inside their car were bags of clear glass vials of suspected steroids,
orange pills and a book marked "ANABOLIC," according to court papers.
At Anne Arundel County's Eastern District, agents wrote that Gumucio
confessed.
"Mr. Gumucio stated that he had been an 'on again off again'"
recreational drug user for years," ICE Special Agent Jon Marsicano Jr.
wrote in an affidavit.
He told investigators that he worked for Schlanger, receiving two to
three packages a week for him from China over the past couple of years
and wiring overseas payments for the drugs on Schlanger's behalf.
"According to Mr. Gumucio, Mr. Schlanger stated that U.S. Customs
flagged him for prior importation of steroids and it was very difficult
for him to receive packages without Customs inspecting them," Marsicano
wrote in court papers. Schlanger also served as a moderator on
professionalmuscle.com, using his connections to find customers around
Baltimore and across the country, according to Gumucio's account in
court papers.
The break in the case came when Gumucio told agents about Schlanger's
storage locker, court papers say.
Anne Arundel police obtained a search warrant for the locker off Fort
Meade Road. Inside, they wrote in court papers, they found about 18,200
doses of suspected steroids. Agents familiar with the case said this
week that the final number inside the locker was actually 40,000 - a
figure reflected in the pending federal indictment against Schlanger.
On the same day, July 14, agents attempted to search Schlanger's home
on Arunah Avenue
in Catonsville. But as they did, they found Schlanger at home and
detained him as they sought a separate arrest warrant.
Inside his home, court papers say, authorities found more steroids,
packaging material and vials. In August, a federal magistrate judge
signed a search warrant for investigators to obtain electronic records
of Schlanger's Yahoo e-mail account. Public court records do not
reflect what agents found as part of their search.
After facing charges of drug possession in state court, authorities
decided to move Schlanger's case and indicted him for conspiracy to
distribute anabolic steroids in federal court on Sept. 20. Gumucio and
Martin's drug possession cases remain in state court.
Sun reporter Andrea E. Siegel contributed to this article.
--
Curt