Leicester Crown Court

A cocaine and steroid user who subjected his girlfriend to a relentless “course of terror” has been jailed for six years.

In one incident, Elliot Field, of Sketchley Road, Burbage, throttled the victim and gave her a black eye.

He also threatened to wrap her in a carpet and dump her in a quarry on several occasions.

Months of harassment and violence culminated in a terrifying ordeal in which he tied the victim’s hands together and attempted to force her into his van.

Judge Alan Parker told Field: “Your behaviour towards this victim over a period of months, while of the most grave and truly distressing kind, did not arise out of mental disorder but out of the effects of your voluntary consumption of class A drugs, steroids and alcohol.

“You destroyed a young woman’s life.

“Your behaviour increased in its severity and depravity. The extent of the violence got worse and worse and worse.

“You subjected her to a course of terror. You controlled her and stopped her living her own life.

“You were completely out of control. I think it is about as bad a count of harassment as there could be.”

Field met the victim in October last year, and was violent and aggressive from an early stage, the court was told.

Between October 15 and January 7, he sent her more than 2,000 text messages.

Prosecutor Timothy Harrington told the court: “On some days, when she was working, she received up to 68 messages over a few hours, and he would turn up unannounced when she was at work and angrily demand that she go home or go with him.

“On at least one occasion, he grabbed her by the arm to take her away because he wanted her to be with him, not at work.”

In one incident, Field pushed the woman into a fence, causing her to hit her stomach. She was pregnant with his child at the time.

In another incident, he throttled her and hit her in the face, giving her a black eye.

And on another occasion, after he had been making threats, she went to the bathroom and was shocked on her return to the living room to find he had hanged himself.

“She later described considering, for a moment, whether to leave him in that position, feeling relieved that her torment would be over,” Mr Harrington said. “But she didn’t. She saved him.”

Field’s violent behaviour reached a climax on January 7, in what Mr Harrington described as “a terrifying ordeal in which she seriously feared she was going to be killed”.

After arriving at the victim’s home, he kicked the door in and attacked her, using cable ties to bind her hands together. He then forced a sock in her mouth, and tried to bind her legs as well.

However, the victim managed to struggle free.

Police were alerted and as officers arrived, Field fled in his van – in which officers later found a sword.

He initially denied any wrongdoing, claiming it was the victim who had been violent towards him after becoming ‘hormonal and hysterical’.

Field’s pre-sentence report said he was using both cocaine and steroids.

Paul O’Keefe, defending, said: “While he does not suffer from mental illness, the effects of the steroids, cocaine and alcohol he was taking at this time may well have affected his behaviour and his thinking”.

Field was made subject to an indefinite restraining order, banning him from having any contact with his victim.
Read more: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Thug-subjected-girlfriend-relentless-course/story-22816351-detail/story.html#ixzz3BQsFBgXa

A manager at the LA Fitness sports club in Travis faces felony charges after police say they found $20,000 worth of anabolic steroids in his home.

Police arrested Ryan Kopyar, 28, after an agent with the New Jersey branch of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration observed him possessing a package of steroids inside the U.S. Post Office at 2843 Richmond Ave. in New Springville, court papers allege.

The steroids were packaged “with intent to sell” in pill bottles and liquid vials, court papers allege.

That happened at 12:20 p.m. Aug. 13, and at 1:30 p.m. that same day, an NYPD narcotics detective found more steroids inside Kopyar’s side apartment on Roswell Avenue in Travis, court papers allege.

Inside, they found 22 plastic zipper bags containing more than 2,500 steroid pills total, as well as more bottles, packets and vials of steroids, and another ziplock of a powdered form of anabolic steroids.

Kopyar admitted the steroids belonged to him, court papers allege.

Police estimate the value of the steroids at about $20,000 according to court papers.

A DEA spokesman wouldn’t comment on why an agent from the New Jersey division was involved in the arrest.

Kopyar is charged with two counts each of fifth- and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, according to information from District Attorney Daniel Donovan’s office.

Kopyar, who was released on his own recognizance at his arraignment in Stapleton Criminal Court Aug. 14, is slated to return to court on Oct. 16.

He was still working at the LA Fitness as of Monday, though he wouldn’t comment about the case.

“This is obviously my career on the line right now, and my lawyer says he doesn’t want me to comment,” Kopyar said.

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/08/manager_at_staten_island_la_fi.html

Detectives targeting bikie gangs on the Gold Coast have uncovered about $25,000 worth of steroids.

The Taskforce Maxima officers found steroid tablets, vials and syringes during a search at a Runaway Bay home on Tuesday morning.

A 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged with three counts of possessing dangerous drugs and two counts of possessing restricted drugs.

He’ll appear in Southport Magistrates Court on September 19.

Detective Inspector Brendan Smith says the find, estimated to have a street value of about $25,000, is the result of an ongoing investigation of a steroid ring involving Rebels bikie gang members.

“We are seeing users increasingly involved in crimes of violence and with ongoing health problems,” Det Insp Smith said.

“Our investigations reveal how these gangs do not limit themselves to traditional offences, they identify vulnerable members of the community and exploit them.

“They are opportunistic and make use of their networks to further their criminal enterprises.”

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/24813126/cops-find-gold-coast-bikie-steroids-haul/

At least one Apple Valley football player won’t be playing this year due to steroid use while another is still under investigation.

Apple Valley head coach Frank Pulice said allegations were brought within the last month against two athletes, who he wasn’t allowed to name.

“Allegations were made,” Pulice said. “Coaches and the administration found out about it, and we removed the potential danger.

“We at Apple Valley High School are not going to put anybody on the field that has been suspected of that. We want to field a clean team.”

The players haven’t been allowed to practice with the team while the investigation was ongoing. Pulice said there is no timetable for the investigation on the second player.

CIF-Southern Section bylaws say “all schools shall adopt policies prohibiting the use and abuse of androgenic/anabolic steroids. All member schools shall have participating students and their parent(s)/guardian(s)/caregiver agree that the athlete will not use steroids without the written prescription of a fully licensed physician (as recognized by the AMA) to treat a medical condition” in order to maintain membership with the section.

Also coaches are required to have completed coaching education that emphasizes “the harmful effects associated with the use of steroids and performance-enhancing dietary supplements by adolescents” among other subjects.

The Sun Devils are set to open the season Friday at Silverado.

- See more at: http://www.vvdailypress.com/article/20140825/SPORTS/140829873#sthash.1h7K3o87.dpuf

MARTIN COUNTY — Two South Carolina men were arrested Monday after a confidential informant told the Martin County Sheriff’s Office the duo would be transporting illegal steroids and steroid-manufacturing equipment up I-95 from Jupiter.

Deputies pulled them over just before 9 p.m. and found more than 500 labeled bottles of schedule III anabolic steroids, a dispenser system, empty caplets, chemicals and equipment needed to pack, weigh and ship the drugs, the affidavit said.

Ryan Robert Delaney, 23, and Mathew Robert Wilson, 22, both of Conway, S.C., were each charged with manufacture of anabolic steroids, possession of testosterone propionate with intent to sell, possession of testosterone isocaproate with intent to sell, possession of boldenone acetate with intent to sell, possession of boldenone undecylenate with intent to sell, possession of masteron propionate with intent to sell, possession of nandrolone phenylprop with intent to sell, possession of oxymetholone with intent to sell, possession of trenbolone acetate with intent to sell, possession of boldenone cyplonate with intent to sell and possession of methyltestosterone with intent to sell, the affidavit said.

Each was being held at the Martin County Jail Wednesday in lieu of $300,000 bond, jail records show.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/local-news/crime/2-men-charged-with-possession-intent-to-sell-illegal-steroids_72201038

Steroids have been reclassified as a schedule one dangerous drug under new laws aimed at reducing drug and alcohol-fuelled violence in Queensland.  Possess steroids / spend 25 years in jail!!

The changes, passed by State Parliament on Tuesday night, mean they are now classified alongside heroin, cocaine and amphetamines in the highest category of dangerous illicit substances.

It also increases the maximum penalty for possession or supply of steroids to 25 years in jail.

The new laws were passed as part of the State Government’s Safe Night Out legislation to tackle drug and alcohol use.

The latest Australian Crime Commission statisticsshow in the 2012-13 financial year, more than half of the nation’s steroid arrests were in Queensland.

Last year, the weight of steroids seized in Queensland increased more than 20 times from 216 grams to 4.6 kilograms.

There were 392 steroids-linked arrests in Queensland in 2012-13, compared with 296 the previous financial year.

Police find steroid stashes in two Gold Coast raids

The change in classification came after police targeted steroids in a series of raids on the Gold Coast this week.

Officers from the state’s anti-bikie squad, Taskforce Maxima, found tablets, syringes and drug vials during a raid on a Runaway Bay home on Monday morning.

Two men were charged over the matter and are due to face court next month.

In a separate raid on a house in Runaway Bay on Tuesday morning, officers found $25,000 worth of steroids and charged a 26-year-old man with drug offences.

Taskforce boss Detective Inspector Brendan Smith said steroids were a growing problem.

He said the arrest came as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged illegal sale of steroids by criminal motorcycle gangs.

“Our investigations reveal how these gangs do not limit themselves to traditional offences, they identify vulnerable members of the community and exploit them,” he said.

“The illegal sale of steroids and their inappropriate use sees increasing community concern.

“We are seeing users increasingly involved in crimes of violence and with ongoing health problems.”

MP warns of growing steroid user subculture

In Tuesday night’s parliamentary debate, Bulimba MP Aaron Dillaway said his constituents had raised concerns about the use of steroids.

“The unsupervised use of such substances can potentially harm the individual and have been linked to aggression and violent behaviour,” he said.

Mr Dillaway also warned against a growing “bruss” subculture in Queensland.

“A term I have been told is used by our younger generations to describe a person who devotes his entire time shredding and mass bulking at the gym and may use steroids to enhance this process.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-27/qld-beefs-up-steroid-laws-after-drastic-rise-in-seizures/5698532

A cocaine and steroid user who subjected his girlfriend to a relentless “course of terror” has been jailed for six years.

In one incident, Elliot Field, of Sketchley Road, Burbage, throttled the victim and gave her a black eye.

He also threatened to wrap her in a carpet and dump her in a quarry on several occasions.

Months of harassment and violence culminated in a terrifying ordeal in which he tied the victim’s hands together and attempted to force her into his van.

Judge Alan Parker told Field:

“You destroyed a young woman’s life.

“Your behaviour increased in its severity and depravity. The extent of the violence got worse and worse and worse.

“You subjected her to a course of terror. You were completely out of control. I think it is about as bad a count of harassment as there could be.”

Field met the victim in October and was violent and aggressive from an early stage, the court was told.

Between October 15 and January 7, he sent her more than 2,000 text messages.

Prosecutor Timothy Harrington told the court: “On some days, when she was working, she received up to 68 messages over a few hours, and he would turn up unannounced when she was at work and demand she go home or go with him.”

In one incident, Field pushed the woman into a fence, causing her to hit her stomach. She was pregnant with his child at the time.

In another incident, he throttled her and hit her in the face, giving her a black eye.

On another occasion, after he had been making threats, she went to the bathroom and was shocked on her return to the living room to find he had hanged himself.

“She later described considering, for a moment, whether to leave him in that position, feeling relieved her torment would be over,” Mr Harrington said. “But she didn’t. She saved him.”

Field’s violent behaviour reached a climax on January 7, in what Mr Harrington described as “a terrifying ordeal in which she seriously feared she was going to be killed”.

After arriving at the victim’s home, he kicked the door in and attacked her, using cable ties to bind her hands together. He then forced a sock in her mouth, and tried to bind her legs as well.

However, the victim managed to struggle free.

Police were alerted and, as officers arrived, Field fled in his van – in which officers later found a sword.

He initially denied any wrongdoing, claiming it was the victim who had been violent towards him.

Field’s pre-sentence report said he was using both cocaine and steroids.

Paul O’Keefe, mitigating, said: “While he does not suffer from mental illness, the effects of the steroids, cocaine and alcohol he was taking at this time may well have affected his behaviour and his thinking.”

Field was made subject to an indefinite restraining order.

Read more: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Violent-drug-user-jailed-course-terror-girlfriend/story-22819448-detail/story.html#ixzz3BcrNEill

POLICE have uncovered a steroid lab in a suburban family home, in a further sign of how widespread the drug is in Australia.

Detectives from the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad (MEOCS) discovered the lab as part of their ongoing investigation into the supply of steroids in Sydney’s southwest.

The steroids have an estimated street value of $365,000 and the bust is the latest in a number of seizures of steroids in Sydney and around the country.

This week alone there have been arrests in the Gold Coast, South Sydney and the Central Coast where vials of steroids have been found.

In the latest bust, officers executed the search warrant on the home in Rosemont Street, Punchbowl, on Tuesday afternoon.

Three children, along with two adults, live at the address.

A liquid form of steroid was found in a five-litre beaker in an oven while other drugs were allegedly found in several other locations including:

— More than 2,900 individual vials of liquid injectable anabolic steroids

— Approximately 700 bottles containing oral anabolic steroids

A Glock 17 pistol and 12 magazines — all of which were loaded with 9mm ammunition — were found and seized along with cash, electronic equipment, a safe and five motor bikes were also seized from the property.

Because of the number of chemicals found police moved everyone who lived there and sealed the house off for specialist firefighters.

As well as the drugs a Glock 17 pistol, and 12 magazines, all of which were loaded, with 9mm ammunition were found in the Punchbowl, Sydney home.

A 43-year-old man was arrested and is facing 26 charges including the commercial manufacture of prohibited drugs (steroids) in circumstances of aggravation, commercial supply of prohibited drugs (steroids); possession of an unauthorised prohibited weapon as well as driving offences.

He was denied bail when he appeared in court yesterday and remanded to appear in court again on October 22.

Earlier this year the Daily Telegraph reported that some gyms were now installing needle disposal bins because use among gym users.

Customs seizures of performance and image-enhancing drugs have increased from 1820 in 2007-2008 to 10,358 last financial year — a staggering increase of 570 per cent in just five years.

http://www.news.com.au/national/steroid-lab-found-in-sydney-family-home/story-fncynjr2-1227040306243

FAYETTEVILLE, AR (KNWA)- A Holt Middle School employee is accused of dealing steroids around Northwest Arkansas.

According to police, for the past 2 months, Detectives with the 4th Judicial District Drug Task Force have been investigating Nathan Otwell.

With the help of informants, detectives said they purchased more than 265 grams of steroid from Otwell while wearing a listening/recording device.

During a search of his Elm Springs home on Wednesday, investigators recovered 20.72 grams of suspected powdered steroid and drug paraphernalia used to process, package and weigh the steroid. Detectives also found in the bathroom of the residence 3 capsules of suspected steroid weighing 1.67 grams in a bottle that had been marked with a marker “D-Bol” which is a type of steroid.

Otwell was arrested Thursday at Holt Middle School where, according to the district, he runs the in-school suspension program.

The Fayetteville School District released the following statement Thursday:

“Holt Middle School staff member Nathan Otwell was arrested today on charges of possession and delivery of a controlled substance (steroids). He has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the investigation. Otwell was the In School Suspension supervisor at Holt.

“Superintendent Dr. Paul Hewitt said the district is cooperating fully with law enforcement officials in the investigation and will have no further comment until the investigation is complete.”

http://www.arkansasmatters.com/story/d/story/holt-middle-school-employee-arrested-for-dealing-s/30485/VYBJv_13B0W36n30HrLfmw

WARREN, Ohio -

One of two men charged in connection with an alleged Trumbull County steroid scheme has pleaded guilty.

22-year-old Josph Stivers of Bazetta Township pleaded guilty to 13 counts of a 17 count indictment.

A search at Stivers home in March turned up steroids and almost $175,000 in cash.

Under the plea agreement, Stivers will surrender $198,000 seized during the search.  The prosecutor is recommending a sentence of nine months to five years in prison when Stivers is sentenced later.

A second suspect in the case, 46-year-old Randy McCale is still awaiting trial on six charges.

McCale worked at Global Fitness off of Elm Road for three years at the front desk where he often sold memberships.

He told authorities that Stivers paid him to provide him with a list of clients from the gym and make deliveries.

http://www.wfmj.com/story/26397900/bazetta-man-surrenders-200000-from-illegal-steroid-business

The head coach of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies says he suspects football players at the majority of CIS schools are using banned substances, a declaration that comes as some officials say Canadian college football is a “wild west” where players dope without fear of detection and the Canadian government is seizing millions of dollars worth of illegal steroids at the border.

“If every school in the CIS came in and tested their entire team, most, if not all, would find one or two (players doping),” said Brian Towriss, Saskatchewan’s longtime coach. “Some might have eight or ten.”

Towriss received a tip in the spring that some of his own players were using banned substances, after former Huskies linebacker Seamus Neary was arrested on drug charges. Police found 14 pounds of marijuana in a rental storage locker and charged Neary with possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Towriss had his entire football team tested for banned substances in March.

Each player was given a urine test and 20 players were tested for blood doping by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport. While urine tests typically detect anabolic steroids, some athletes have started using human growth hormone, which can only be detected in the blood.

Towriss said he can’t release the results of the investigation for another several weeks — six full months after the samples were taken.

“We had suspicion enough that we wanted to test everybody and we tested everybody,” Towriss told TSN. “Within 10 days this should resolve itself… My frustration is the time lag. Those kids got treated in March. We didn’t have final results until the end of June or later on the blood. From a coach’s perspective, we went five months, spring practice and everything, and we just didn’t know.”

As TSN recently reported, several university officials say Canadian college football has become a “wild west” where athletes are doping without fear of being caught. That’s because the Canadian government, which funds the CCES, is demanding that most of the testing be done on athletes who represent Canada in the Olympics or other international competition. College football and hockey have become virtual afterthoughts.

This year, the CCES is planning 200 tests for nearly 11,000 CIS athletes.

“That’s pathetic,” said Don Hooton, president of the Taylor Hooton Foundation in Washington, which educates the public about steroid abuse.

“It’s going to take a lot more than 200 tests to root the problem out.”

Ira Jacobs, Dean of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, told TSN the CIS has become a “wild west” where athletes know how to game the system.

CCES chief operating officer Doug MacQuarrie told TSN, “the facts remain that we implement with the resources that are available. We are calling on many stakeholders to contribute.”

Hooton said a study published this month by the Partnership for Drug Free Kids, a non-profit group in New York, reveals that seven per cent of U.S. high school students admit to using steroids, up from six per cent two years ago. Some 11 per cent of students said they used human growth hormone, up from six per cent two years ago.

“The numbers are staggering,” said Hooton, who started the foundation after son Taylor hanged himself in his room in 2003 during withdrawal from steroids. “There is no reason to think the numbers are appreciably different in Canada.”

Towriss told TSN that after a scandal at the University of Waterloo in 2010, when the football program was suspended after a wave of players were discovered using steroids, there was a brief period when drug testing increased.

He said it was typical for as many as eight players to be tested by the CCES at training camp, with another eight facing random tests midseason. There would also be tests following playoff games.

“We hadn’t seen anyone tested, maybe one person tested after a playoff game, in four years,” Towriss said in an interview.

Towriss said he’s can’t release the results of his school’s investigation yet, but it won’t threaten the program’s upcoming season.

“If it was large-scale it would have been a big hit, but maybe that would be a good thing,” he said. “We didn’t think it was, and it was proven that way.”

Justin MacNeill, a spokesman for the CCES, said that his agency has received the reported results for all of the University of Saskatchewan testing mission.

“The process for managing results under the (Canadian anti-doping program) is underway,” he said. “CCES does not typically report negative results and any determinations of anti-doping rule violations would be publicly reported as per the requirements of the CADP.”

Some officials worry that most of the 200 tests the CIS has planned for the upcoming academic year are urine tests, which experts say don’t detect human growth hormone.

Doug MacQuarrie, the CCES’s chief operating officer, refused to say whether any athletes would be tested for blood doping.

“While the CCES has confirmed publicly that it plans to conduct approximately 200 tests on athletes who compete in Canadian university sport, we do not disclose details associated with our testing plans,” he said. “However, we can confirm all athletes subject to the Canadian Anti-Doping Program could be tested at any time, and that any test may include analysis for human growth hormone.”

There are other reasons for concern.

According to data collected by the Canada Border Services Agency and obtained by TSN, Canadian federal officials over the past five years have secured $20.4 million worth of illegal steroids in 10,890 seizures at border entry points. In 2013, some $2.1 million worth of steroids was seized during 1,837 seizures—which works out to five seizures per day.

“As smugglers are increasingly utilizing more sophisticated concealment methods in smuggling attempts, the CBSA employs a number of tools to stop the flow of illegal and prohibited materials into Canada,” said Esme Bailey, a CBSA spokesperson. “Contraband Detection tools such as the Gamma-Ray technology, X-ray machines, and many others assist our officers, along with their training, expertise and knowledge, in detecting contraband and prohibited or restricted goods.”

The biggest seizures of steroids in 2013 occurred at the CBSA’s mail entry points in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver ($1.4 million); Vancouver International Airport ($198,270); and Toronto’s Pearson International Airport ($136,832).

Highlighting how widespread steroid smuggling has become, the illegal drug was also seized at border entry points including Wild Horse, Man., Osoyoos, B.C., and Oungre, Sask.

http://www.tsn.ca/story/?id=460561

A former University of Manitoba Bisons football player has tested positive for anabolic steroids, the U of M and Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports confirmed this morning.

It’s just the second time ever a Bisons athlete has tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and the first time in over a decade.

The CCES said Ranji Atwall, a defensive line starter for the Bisons in 2012 and 2013 who has since graduated, tested positive while taking part in a CFL Regional Combine in Edmonton Mar. 17, 2014 — one of three players who tested positive at that event.

It was the second time Atwall tested positive. The first positive test was in 2011 for cannabis while Atwall was a member of the Canadian Junior Football League’s Vancouver Island Raiders.

Bisons football head coach Brian Dobie said Thursday morning that he had no evidence that led him to believe Atwall was using illegal performance enhancers while a member of the Bisons program the past two seasons, but he’s left to wonder now.

“You always wonder that when these things happen — of course you wonder that. And you certainly hope that’s not the case,” Dobie said.

Coleen Dufresne, U of M athletic director, said the university was disappointed to hear Atwall had tested positive.

“Students athletes are representatives of our institution at all times and we do encourage them to make good choices. But in this case, as we all know, there was a bad one made,” Dufresne said.

Dufresne said she doesn’t accept that positive tests by student athletes from time to time is almost inevitable. “No, I don’t think that way,” Dufresne said. “Our goal is to have a hundred percent of our student athletes competing fairly and drug free. And so I’m disappointed and I have to say there’s a little bit of anger there. Because I think we do a really good job on educating the athletes on competing fairly and being clean…”

The CCES said Atwall tested positive in a urine test for oxandrolone, which it described as a prohibited anabolic agent. The CCES said Atwall admitted to the offence, waived his right to a hearing and accepted a four-year CIS ban.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/Former-Bisons-player-tests-positive-for-steroids-273056281.html

UFC rookie Brian Ortega has tested positive for the anabolic steroid drostanolone following his UFC on FOX 12 win over Mike de la Torre last month.

According to Sherdog.com, Ortega, a former RFA featherweight champion, has since been suspended for nine months and fined $2,500. Also, his first-round submission win over de la Torre has been changed to a no contest. California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster confirmed the news with MMAFighting.com. Ortega has 30 days to appeal the punishment.

Ortega is the second former RFA champion to test positive for drostanolone in July.Kevin Casey, the promotion’s former 185-pound champion, failed his post-fight drug test at UFC 175 for the same steroid after his knockout of Bubba Bush.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/8/22/6057283/brian-ortega-tests-positive-for-anabolic-steroid-following-ufc-on-fox

Disgraced bodybuilding world champ Stephen Orton has accused a former friend and competitor of misleading him into receiving packages of an illegal party drug worth nearly $100,000.

Orton, 24, also regarded as one of Christchurch’s top personal trainers, says his decision to trust the Auckland-based man was the “most careless, stupid, silly decision I have ever made”.

“I was duped and so very foolish,” he says in court documents viewed by The Press.

Orton, a rising star of the international bodybuilding circuit, was last week sentenced to seven months’ home detention during a hearing at the Christchurch District Court.

He had earlier admitted two charges of importing about 700 grams of the Class C drug methylone, also known as bk-MDMA, from China. The drug’s effects are similar to ecstasy.

This week, The Press was granted full access to Orton’s court file.

In a sworn affidavit, Orton says he had been asked by a bodybuilder friend from Auckland to accept packages sent to him under a woman’s name. He was told to leave them on the porch outside his home and someone would collect them.

The friend, whose name has been provided to investigators, was a well known supplier of steroids and the owner of a supplements company, Orton’s affidavit says.

The pair first met at a bodybuilding competition in June last year.

Orton claims he thought the packages were full of steroids but realised they likely contained something more serious when Customs investigators burst into his home in November last year.

“I admit that I do know steroids are illegal but are unfortunately commonplace in my sport,” his affidavit says.

A Customs spokeswoman said the allegations formed part of an ongoing investigation.

The supplements company’s owner denied importing any drugs or dealing in steroids.

“I haven’t been contacted or talked to by anyone [about the investigation],” the owner said.

In a letter to Judge Gary MacAskill, Orton apologised for what he had done and asked for a second chance.

“I have learnt my lesson, and I hope that you can see this and not let this horrible mistake of mine effect me for the rest of my life (sic). I am a proud New Zealander and love representing this country to the best of my ability.

“I have been dealing and complying with Customs since day one to give them all the necessary information they need to catch the person that took advantage of my good nature.

“I am so sorry and I am ashamed of myself.”

Orton was crowned National Amateur Bodybuilders’ Association world champion in Italy in June last year. In court last week, his lawyer, Kirsty May, sought a discharge without conviction.

Orton’s ability to travel overseas and compete as a professional athlete would be affected if he was convicted, May said.

Judge MacAskill rejected her request.

He said sports stars, even those at elite level, could expect no special treatment from the courts for serious criminal offences.

The decision left Orton’s bodybuilding career in tatters.

This week, former national bodybuilding champion Phillip Musson, 45, from Christchurch, was sentenced to nearly four and a half years behind bars for masterminding a nationwide mail-order steroid and party pill dealing operation.

Anthony Bosch, the South Florida clinic operator suspected of selling banned steroids to suspended Major League Baseball players, plans to plead guilty in October to illegally distributing the performance enhancement drugs.

“We’ve resolved the case,” Bosch’s defense attorney, Guy Lewis, told U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles on Wednesday in Miami federal court. “It’s going to be resolved with a [guilty] plea.”

Bosch, who initially pleaded not guilty after he surrendered last month, has signed a plea agreement admitting to his criminal activity at a Coral Gables anti-aging clinic that allegedly sold testosterone to New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez and other players. He was scheduled for trial on Monday, but the agreement precludes it.

Bosch said nothing during Wednesday’s pre-trial hearing. Afterward, Lewis declined to comment on why his client — a notorious figure in baseball — decided to change his plea to guilty.

Bosch, accused of selling more than 5,000 units of testosterone to both professional and high school ballplayers, faces up to 10 years in prison, according to the plea agreement. He has agreed to assist the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. attorney’s office in the investigation, which could help him obtain a significantly lesser sentence.

Last month, Bosch and six other defendants were arrested on charges of conspiring to sell the illegal steroids — one year after more than a dozen Major League Baseball players were suspended in connection with the clinic probe, including Rodriguez, who in his youth had played at Gulliver Prep in Miami-Dade County. The arrests marked the climax of the biggest doping scandal in baseball history.

The six defendants, including Rodriguez’s cousin, are accused of conspiring with Bosch to distribute the steroids supplied by his clinic between 2008 and 2013. Bosch, who led some people to believe he was a licensed medical doctor, is the former owner of the Biogenesis of America clinic in Coral Gables.

In recently filed court papers, the U.S. attorney’s office revealed that 122 electronic surveillance recordings — audio and video — were made of Bosch and the other defendants during the federal investigation. It gained momentum early last year after the Miami New Times broke the story about Bosch’s alleged sale of steroids to Major League ballplayers and others.

None of Bosch’s customers have been charged in the federal case.

The federal investigation is shrouded in secrecy. Prosecutors Pat Sullivan and Sharad Motiani and defense attorneys Lewis and Susy Elena Ribero-Ayala have agreed that no evidence — including the names of customers — can be shared with outside parties, including Major League Baseball. The clinic’s customers also included Miami-Dade high school ballplayers.

Gayles, the federal judge, has granted a protective order restricting the sharing of the evidence.

Wes Welker will have at least four more weeks to rest his head following his latest concussion scare last month.

Welker, the former Patriots star now playing for the Broncos, has been suspended for the first four games of the regular season for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy, according to reports.

Per the NFL Network, Welker appealed the suspension and lost. Welker’s suspension will start immediately and end well before the Broncos visit New England in Week 9.

This is Welker’s first suspension in his 12-year NFL career, and it’s possible this was his first failed drug test. Per the NFL’s drug policy, as spelled out in the collective bargaining agreement, players earn an automatic four-game suspension for a first positive test for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, including the amphetamines found in Welker’s system.

A second positive results in an eight-game suspension, and a third positive is a year-long ban.

Players not in the drug program are tested randomly just once per year between April and August. Once in the drug program, though, players are subject to up to 10 random tests per month, including the offseason.

Welker, who spent six seasons in New England before leaving for Denver in a bitter contract dispute before last season, will lose 4/17ths of his $3 million salary, or approximately $705,882.

Welker’s situation is similar to that of Cowboys defensive back Orlando Scandrick, who also said his suspension was the result of taking Molly while on vacation in Mexico.

Welker, who attends the Derby annually along with Tom Brady and several other Patriots, had a big weekend this year. Welker owns several racehorses, and his horse Commanding Curve earned him a huge payday. According to TMZ, Welker won more than $57,000 that weekend — including a $14,000 track error he was not forced to return — and he was seen in photographs being jubilant and passing out $100 bills to random people.

Welker, who had 778 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns in 13 games last year, is still coming back from the effects of a concussion suffered two weeks ago against Houston. It was Welker’s third concussion in 10 months.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/09/02/wes-welker-suspended-four-games-reports-say/DClyEvow7CDr70EaVmyOdN/story.html

Philip Fenton is facing eight charges over treatments and medicines allegedly found at his yard

A leading Irish racehorse trainer had 1kg of anabolic steroids in his stables when veterinary inspectors carried out a raid, a court has heard.

Philip Fenton is facing eight charges over treatments and medicines allegedly found at his yard, South Lodge, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, in January 2012.

Among the substances was the quantity of steroid Nitrotain, a 20ml bottle of a second performance enhancing drug, Ilium Stanabolic, a counterfeit antibiotic and medicines held without prescription, the court heard.

Mr Fenton’s trial will take place at Carrick-on-Suir District Court on 23 October.

During a brief hearing at the courthouse this morning, Judge Terence Finn was told the State would be calling eight witnesses, some of whom will travel from overseas for the trial.

It is expected to last one day.

Defence barrister John Walsh, senior counsel, did not indicate how many witnesses he will call.

The prosecution is being brought in the name of Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture for infringements of rules on animal remedies.

Mr Fenton, 49, attended the short hearing in Carrick-on-Suir courthouse but did not make any comment.

He has had nine winners from 46 runners in the current Irish season – a rate of about 20%.

In June, Judge Finn dismissed an application by defence lawyers that the charges were not being correctly brought as regulations had been amended between the date of the inspection and when summonses were issued in October 2013.

Defence lawyers had suggested at a previous hearing that the matter may end up in the High Court at a future date.

Mr Walsh told Judge Finn he had no issue with the District Court’s jurisdiction to hear the case.

No plea has been entered..

At a previous hearing in the long-running case prosecutors said it is the State’s case that Mr Fenton has accepted he was in possession of some banned animal remedies including steroids when his stables where searched more than two and a half years ago.

The antibiotics allegedly discovered at the stables include Engemycin 10%, Neomycin-Penicillin, and the counterfeit antibiotic, Marbocyl 10%, the court heard.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0904/641425-trainer-had-steroids-in-stables/

Matthew Parrella (r.) and Jeffrey Nedrow (second from r.)

A former New York City Deputy U.S. Marshal pleaded guilty to two felony counts of distributing misbranded and unauthorized drugs Wednesday in federal court in San Jose, Calif., in a case prosecuted by the U.S. Attorneys who led the BALCO steroids case that ensnared home run king Barry Bonds, Olympic star Marion Jones and other elite athletes.

Aris Aristidis Vavasis was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matt Parrella and Jeff Nedrow out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, the Justice Department officials who spearheaded BALCO. FDA agent Jeff Novitzky — who kick-started the BALCO investigation when he worked for the Internal Revenue Service was also involved in the Nutrition Dome investigation.

Vavasis acknowledged in a plea agreement that Methastadrol, a supplement sold by his Brooklyn company, Nutrition Dome, contained the anabolic steroid Methasterone, a controlled substance. Another supplement, Lipodrene, contained ephedrine, which the Food and Drug Administration says poses an unreasonable risk of illness or injury. The 2003 death of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler was linked to a weight-loss supplement that contained ephedrine.

Vavasis also admitted that he used both his home computer and the U.S. Marshal’s computer system to operate his business, “including but not limited to communicating with purchasers, fulfilling orders, and otherwise administering the business of Nutrition Dome.”

“Nutrition Dome sold and shipped purported dietary supplements in interstate commerce, including to the Northern District of California, between on or about November, 2010 and July, 2012,” reads the indictment.

There are no mentions of names of users of the two drugs.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Vavasis was released on a recognizance bond, and his sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 22. He faces a maximum penalty of three years’ custody, three years’ supervised release and a fine of $10,000.

“The distribution of anabolic steroids and misbranded drugs through Internet supplement companies constitutes a serious danger to the health and safety of consumers,” said U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said in a statement. “The fact that this defendant abused his position as a Deputy United States Marshal and utilized the computer system of the United States Marshals Service in the Eastern District of New York to commit these crimes is especially disturbing.”

Investigators from the New York State Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement seized hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of steroids during a raid on a Brooklyn compounding pharmacy in 2007. The pharmacy, Lowen’s of Bay Ridge, allegedly supplied steroids and other drugs to cops from the NYPD and other agencies.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/balco-boys-grab-plea-deal-article-1.1928757#ixzz3CRrJMY6q

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Federal and state authorities arrested 22 people in the Austin area on Thursday believed to be connected to a steroid distribution ring. Included in the arrests were ringleaders Timothy John Bruner, 54, of Leander, and 23-year-old Ryan Robert Rowland of Round Rock, a statement from the Department of Justice said.

Federal charges were handed down for six of the people arrested, including Bruner and Rowland. Others facing federal charges are: Ronald Marion Butsch, 42, Austin; Dan Lee, 47, Austin; Timothy John Moore, 49, Austin; and Don Glen Zachary, 58, Austin. The other 16 face state charges.

Authorities say since at least January 2014, the six men facing federal charges conspired to distribute more than 1,000 dosage units of steroids in tablet form, and more than 200 vials of steroids in liquid form. Those six are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. They face up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 if convicted.

Investigators say they conducted several controlled purchases from Bruner and Rowland during their eight-month investigation, according to the DOJ release. Authorities added a significant amount of steroids and $300,000 in cash and other assets had been seized.

According to court records, most steroid users purchase between one and two 10cc vials at a time, which usually lasts between five- to 10 weeks depending on the user. A source told authorities that if someone is purchasing eight or more, they’re most likely making money by redistributing the steroids at a higher price.

The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Texas Department of Public Safety, Cedar Park Police Department, Austin Police Department, Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and the Williamson County Constable’s Office.

http://kxan.com/2014/09/04/austin-steroid-bust-nets-22-arrests/