Txbroadcaster
03-07-2007, 10:56 AM
By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press Writer
March 6, 2007
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Two more people linked to a nationwide investigation into the illegal sale of steroids were arraigned Tuesday on drug-related charges as published reports implicated more athletes, including former star relief pitcher John Rocker.
SI.com reported that Rocker, 1996 Olympic wrestling gold-medalist Kurt Angle, major leaguer David Bell and Victor Martinez, winner of the latest Ohio bodybuilding competition named for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, all showed up on a client list of Applied Pharmacy, a Mobile, Ala., company raided in connection with the investigation.
Rocker's publicist told the Daily News that he admitted taking HGH, now banned by Major League Baseball, but said it was for medical reasons.
"That was a growth hormone that was prescribed by a doctor in relation to his rotator cuff surgery in 2003, so I don't really think there is anything to the story," Debi Curzio, Rocker's publicist, told the Daily News for a story on the newspaper's Web site Tuesday night.
SI.com reported that Rocker received two prescriptions for somatropin between April and July 2003.
Steven and Karen Lampert of Anti-Aging Centers in Nanuet pleaded not guilty in an Albany County, N.Y., courtroom and were released without bail. They are charged with submitting prescriptions to a Florida pharmacy -- some "obviously forged" according to the district attorney -- for drugs totaling more than $50,000 for people without a medical need.
Steven Lampert is charged with 20 counts, his wife with two.
"It seems as though our clients have much less involvement than the others," said Jay Golland, a lawyer for Karen Lampert.
Prosecutors describe the Lamperts as "criminal associates" of Signature Pharmacy in Orlando, Fla. Albany County District Attorney David Soares says Signature was at the center of a web of businesses and doctors that illegally wrote prescriptions for steroids.
The arraignments come a day after not guilty pleas were entered in Albany by 11 other defendants, including four Signature Pharmacy officials.
Soares acknowledged that Martinez was an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the case and is linked to the Lamperts' Anti-Aging Centers. Martinez won the Arnold Classic bodybuilding competition Saturday in Ohio.
A spokesman for Schwarzenegger said he wants bodybuilders to stop using steroids.
"He's clearly opposed to these steroids," said Aaron McLear. "And he's working with top officials in the bodybuilding community to come up with a system where they rid the sport of steroids."
Martinez told The New York Times he bought testosterone from the Lamperts after their clinic told him he had low levels of the hormone. He also said the company asked him to become a partner, but he declined.
"I didn't trust them, and other people were warning me not to do business with them," he told the Times.
Calls placed by The Associated Press to Jim Lorimer, a bodybuilding promoter and co-creator of the Arnold Classic, were not immediately returned.
Bell told SI.com he received the shipment of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) last April but said the drug was prescribed "for a medical condition," which he declined to disclose.
Updated on Tuesday, Mar 6, 2007 11:13 pm EST
March 6, 2007
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Two more people linked to a nationwide investigation into the illegal sale of steroids were arraigned Tuesday on drug-related charges as published reports implicated more athletes, including former star relief pitcher John Rocker.
SI.com reported that Rocker, 1996 Olympic wrestling gold-medalist Kurt Angle, major leaguer David Bell and Victor Martinez, winner of the latest Ohio bodybuilding competition named for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, all showed up on a client list of Applied Pharmacy, a Mobile, Ala., company raided in connection with the investigation.
Rocker's publicist told the Daily News that he admitted taking HGH, now banned by Major League Baseball, but said it was for medical reasons.
"That was a growth hormone that was prescribed by a doctor in relation to his rotator cuff surgery in 2003, so I don't really think there is anything to the story," Debi Curzio, Rocker's publicist, told the Daily News for a story on the newspaper's Web site Tuesday night.
SI.com reported that Rocker received two prescriptions for somatropin between April and July 2003.
Steven and Karen Lampert of Anti-Aging Centers in Nanuet pleaded not guilty in an Albany County, N.Y., courtroom and were released without bail. They are charged with submitting prescriptions to a Florida pharmacy -- some "obviously forged" according to the district attorney -- for drugs totaling more than $50,000 for people without a medical need.
Steven Lampert is charged with 20 counts, his wife with two.
"It seems as though our clients have much less involvement than the others," said Jay Golland, a lawyer for Karen Lampert.
Prosecutors describe the Lamperts as "criminal associates" of Signature Pharmacy in Orlando, Fla. Albany County District Attorney David Soares says Signature was at the center of a web of businesses and doctors that illegally wrote prescriptions for steroids.
The arraignments come a day after not guilty pleas were entered in Albany by 11 other defendants, including four Signature Pharmacy officials.
Soares acknowledged that Martinez was an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the case and is linked to the Lamperts' Anti-Aging Centers. Martinez won the Arnold Classic bodybuilding competition Saturday in Ohio.
A spokesman for Schwarzenegger said he wants bodybuilders to stop using steroids.
"He's clearly opposed to these steroids," said Aaron McLear. "And he's working with top officials in the bodybuilding community to come up with a system where they rid the sport of steroids."
Martinez told The New York Times he bought testosterone from the Lamperts after their clinic told him he had low levels of the hormone. He also said the company asked him to become a partner, but he declined.
"I didn't trust them, and other people were warning me not to do business with them," he told the Times.
Calls placed by The Associated Press to Jim Lorimer, a bodybuilding promoter and co-creator of the Arnold Classic, were not immediately returned.
Bell told SI.com he received the shipment of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) last April but said the drug was prescribed "for a medical condition," which he declined to disclose.
Updated on Tuesday, Mar 6, 2007 11:13 pm EST