A steroids dealer was sentenced to five years and one month in prison on federal drug and gun charges after he said he had a plan to kill police officers.

The 38-year-old, Damon Bruce Beshears, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, according to a plea deal Beshears had reached with prosecutors in August.

From Statesman.com:

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Marshall said that he agreed to the deal presented by Beshears’ lawyer in part because Beshears has a history of mental illness — he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital about two months before his arrest in June.

“I talked to the officers who were involved and their impression was he was more of a danger to himself than to them,” Marshall said.

Beshears’ lawyer, Joe Lopez, said his client’s mental health has drastically improved since his arrest.

“The steroids, in combination with the other medication that he takes, I think, just drove him nuts,” Lopez said. “He was a prisoner in his own body.

“I can totally tell now that the steroids are not a part of his life; he’s completely a changed person,” Lopez said.

Posted in Steroids | No Comments/Questions

A man from New Zealandwas caught trying to smuggle about 7000 illegal steroid tablets into Australia in his underwear.

Customs officers at  Melbourne Airport stopped the 23-year-old man at Melbourne Airport and arrived on a flight from Bangkok, when they suspected he was concealing something inside his clothing.

From Nzherald.co.nz:

Customs officers at Melbourne Airport stopped the 23-year-old man, who arrived on a flight from Bangkok, when they suspected he was concealing something inside his clothing on Friday.

A search revealed about 7000 tablets, believed to be Dianabol, concealed in four snap-lock plastic bags inside his underwear.

Officers also found a 100ml bottle labelled “Finexol” and 100 “Trenabolone Acetate” tablets.

The man has been charged with smuggling prohibited imports and is due to face the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on September 17.

The maximum penalty for the offence is five years jail and/or a fine of A$110,000 ($136,815).

Posted in Steroids | No Comments/Questions

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has accepted that five Mexican footballers who failed doping tests this year had ingested contaminated meat and should not be punished.

The anti-doping agency said it dropped an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the Mexico Football Federation (FMF) decision not to sanction the players.

From Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

“WADA has received compelling evidence from a FIFA study at the under-17 World Cup in Mexico that indicates a serious health problem in Mexico with regards to meat contaminated with clenbuterol,” the anti-doping organisation said in a statement.

“This is a public health issue that is now being addressed urgently by the Mexican government.

“The government of Mexico, which has legislation forbidding the use of steroids with livestock, accepts it has an issue with contaminated meat and is actively looking to resolve the problem state by state,” added WADA.

“Already several arrests have been made pursuant to these laws and large amounts of clenbuterol seized. Investigations are to continue.

“WADA applauds FIFA for the further research it has initiated while WADA, the Mexican Football Federation and the Mexican government have agreed to assist with the study which will continue as a joint project.”

“FIFA would like to express its satisfaction with the decision taken by WADA,” said soccer’s ruling body.

Posted in Steroids | No Comments/Questions

A Monroe County doctor awaiting sentencing on a steroids charge threatened his estranged wife, according to allegations by federal prosecutors.

The prosecutors requested the judge to lock him up.

From Blog.al.com:

Dr. Mark Peter Koch pleaded guilty last month to a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute steroids. A judge allowed him to remain free at a friend’s house in Andalusia until his sentencing in January. One of the conditions of his release is that he have no contact with Jenny Koch.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gina Vann wrote in a motion that Dr. Koch called his estranged wife on Thursday and threatened to physically harm her.

“The United States submits that the conditions the Court previously imposed were not sufficient to protect Jenny Koch and the community from the defendant’s criminal activity, and that the defendant is in direct violation of said conditions of release and said conditions are due to be revoked,” Vann wrote.

Posted in Steroids | No Comments/Questions

The treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis with glucosteroids provides relief of symptoms, but the therapy leads to significant increase in the composition of body fat, as per researchers at the Jan van Breemen Research Institute/Reade in Amsterdam.

“In this early arthritis cohort, there were unfavorable changes in body fat composition after one year in glucosteroid users that were not observed in glucosteroid nonusers,” Michael Nurmohamed, MD, senior reader in rheumatology at Jan van Breemen Research Institute/Reade, in Amsterdam said at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology.

From Medpagetoday.com:

In the study, the researchers followed 100 consecutive patients from their early arthritis cohort. Early arthritis was defined as diagnosis of the disease for less than two years. Women made up 68% of the cohort.

The group included 85 patients who had rheumatoid arthritis according to American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism criteria; the remaining patients had undifferentiated arthritis.

Doctors prescribed a glucosteroid to 74% of the patients in the first year of treatment, at a mean oral dose of 7.6 mg. The patients underwent dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry at baseline and after 12 months of treatment.

The patients on steroids reduced their DAS28 (Disability Activity Score) from a baseline of 5.2 points to 2.7 points at the end of the year. Patients who were not on steroids reduced their DAS28 scores from 4.1 points to 2.8 points. Both reductions were statistically significant within the groups (P<0.05), but it was also significantly different in favor of the steroid users (P<0.001), the researchers explained.

“This effect occurred despite a greater decrease of disease activity in the glucosteroid users which would be expected to favorably influence body fat distribution by encouraging more physical activity,” Nurmohamed told at a poster presentation.

Posted in Steroids | No Comments/Questions

SA Boxing Featherweight champion Matima Molefe has been banned for two years by the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport.

This was after the boxer tested positive for anabolic steroids after the featherweight title fight in May this year.

From Sport24.co.za:

The banned substances were found in Molefe’s urine sample, which was taken by the Institute’s doping control officials on 29 May 2011, after the featherweight title fight in East London.

Khalid Galant, CEO of the Institute of Drug-Free Sport, says that Matima tested positive for metabolites of the anabolic agent, Nandrolone.

Latest doping figures show that anabolic steroid doping amongst boxers is becoming a trend because of the misconception that steroids alone will enhance their performance and give them additional strength and power.

Galant says that drug abuse by professional boxers is becoming rife, with four positives out of 87 tests reported for the period April 2010 to March 2011.

“Boxing is a sport that combines high level co-ordination of gross motor skills with speed and strength. By focusing on illegal performance gains from steroids and ignoring the consequences that a doping ban can have, boxers are placing their championship status and earning potential at risk,.” Gallant said.

Posted in Steroids | No Comments/Questions

Eric Allen Garonzik, a Lower Allen Township physical trainer, who was already serving a one-year sentence in a state prison after being convicted in a federal case of selling steroids.

The 41-year-old faces a sentence ranging from probation to nine months in county prison after being found guilty by a jury of simple assault and harassment.

From Cumberlink.com:

Garonzik is serving the sentence through the Dauphin County Work Release program. Since he is already in prison, Chief Deputy District Attorney Matthew Smith said he had no reason to have Garonzik’s bail on the simple assault case reinstated.

Garonzik took the stand in his own defense Tuesday morning to say that he never hit the woman he was accused of assaulting at a Lemoyne gym March 7.

The woman testified Monday that, after an earlier incident, Garonzik returned to the gym, asked to talk to her in a group fitness room, and then hit her twice in the face and backed her into a heavy bag.

Garonzik testified that he never even raised his voice while the two were in the workout room arguing about finances.

“Obviously we’re pleased with the verdict,” Smith said. “Both lawyers had to walk a tight rope as far as his past history, which was intertwined with (the victim). … I’m glad the jury was able to see past his attempt to lambast her.”

Posted in Steroids | No Comments/Questions

Local professional athletes – who haven’t been charged — are being probed in a far-reaching Warren County drug investigation, according to authorities.

A clandestine anabolic steroids lab in Tennessee was busted during investigation that led to indictments of 32 people.

From Communitypress.cincinnati.com:

The suspects who have been indicted hail from six Ohio counties plus Tennessee. They include a Liberty Township gym owner, a champion Cincinnati bodybuilder, a manager at LA Fitness in West Chester Township and an exotic dancer from Middletown.

“It was a tight network” that required deep undercover work to infiltrate, Burke said, noting the suspects knew each other from gyms and bodybuilding.

“Virtually everybody we dealt with had no criminal record,” Burke said, which is atypical for drug investigations.

“There are at least two (professional athletes) we feel have an involvement in this operation,” said John Burke, commander of the Warren County Drug Task Force. “The investigation is ongoing and there may well be charges (against the athletes).”

Posted in Steroids | No Comments/Questions

Georges Laraque said he fought not only against the National Hockey League’s toughest players, but also against the use of performance enhancing drugs, in his career spanning 13 years.

“Quite early in my career I started asking the (National Hockey League Players’ Association) to take action against all the performance enhancing drugs some players would use to become bigger in order to stop feeling the pain,” Laraque writes in The Story of the NHL’s Unlikeliest Tough Guy, a new autobiography, excerpts of which were reprinted in the Toronto Star.

From Montrealgazette.com:

“The job was hard and harsh enough not to have to compete against ‘killers’ swollen with steroids. The NHLPA listened to me, but refused to take any action on that front, for obvious political reasons. They wanted to keep drug testing as a card in their negotiations with the league.”

Laraque, who piled up 1,126 penalty minutes as one of the NHL’s most feared fighters, writes that the use of drugs created an uneven playing field for pugilists.

“The use of steroids by tough guys makes it unfair for the ones who decide to remain clean,” he writes.

“In my final years in the NHL, the league finally decided to set clear and precise rules against the use of any performance enhancing drugs,” he writes. “I was relieved, and found it funny how much weight some players had lost in just one year.”

Posted in Steroids | No Comments/Questions

Doubts about the reliability of doping violations for clenbuterol in the past have been raised with an outbreak of positive tests for the anabolic steroid clenbuterol at this summer’s under-17 football World Cup in Mexico.

An astonishing 109 positive tests were recorded for the banned drug out of 208 urine samples taken during the tournament, according to a revelation by FIFA.

From Telegraph.co.uk:

The statistics are so extraordinary that both FIFA and the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) have confirmed they will not be prosecuting any cases, blaming the failed tests on contaminated meat.

Mexican authorities admit the country has a major problem with farmers feeding clenbuterol to livestock to produce leaner, more valuable meat.

Based on what it describes as FIFA’s “compelling evidence”, Wada has also dropped its appeal against the decision of the Mexican football federation not to sanction five senior Mexican players who tested positive for clenbuterol at the Concacaf Gold Cup in June.

The news is expected to help Contador and Priestley who have been accused of using clenbuterol but have blamed contaminated meat. The ban of Priestley is due to end in February, though he remains banned from the Olympics for life under British Olympic Association rules.

Posted in Steroids | No Comments/Questions