Names of celebrities snared in the Signature Pharmacy anabolic steroid scandal

Top Athletes and Hollywood Celebrities Linked to Steroid Scandal that may even be Bigger than BALCO!

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A recent raid on a pharmacy in Orlando by FBI investigators may have uncovered the biggest steroid scandal ever. Some of sport’s most famous athletes ever including Evander HolyField and Jose Canseco have been implicated in this mess along with celebrities who were looking for a way to reverse the aging process. And this is just the beginning!

Every now and then there’s a news story that’s over reported and beaten to death so badly that it almost makes people sick to hear about it anymore. Some past examples that come to my mind right away are the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky affair, the OJ Simpson trial, the Enron fiasco, and of course the BALCO scandal. Actually, the BALCO story was beginning to drive me nuts by the time it was finally coming to an end.

While it was certainly interesting for a while, it eventually became so over covered that I didn’t even want to turn the TV to any sports networks anymore or open the paper to the sports section because I knew that I’d be forced to endure more of Victor Conte or Barry Bonds than I ever wanted to see. Fortunately, the whole steroid scandal scene is being refreshed, and in a huge way.

Authorities recently uncovered a huge steroid distribution ring after raiding a pharmacy in Orlando, Florida. Four company officials were arrested on site and a slew of others have also been busted in connection with the case already. So far, the suspected criminals have come from New York, Florida, and Texas while up to 24 other people will have to endure a year-long investigation to see if they’ll be arrested on felony charges too.

And while the raid on this pharmacy, which is called Signature Pharmacy, was big news at the time, it seemed to be just another one of the huge steroid busts that have come quite frequently as of late. However, that was until authorities started sifting through the evidence they found.

The steroid ring that spanned through multiple states is now suspected of using the Internet to provide many high-profile athletes and celebrities with numerous muscle-building and anti-aging substances that are illegal in the Untied States for that purpose. Some of the names that have been released already will shock people while others may come as no surprise.

Former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield is one mind-blowing name that was found on a client list bound for Applied Pharmacy in Mobile, Alabama. Many people know Holyfield as the bruising heavyweight who is the only man ever to win boxing’s biggest belt, the WBA Belt, five different times. But many also know him as the devout religious man whose warm personality shined through on the hit Television show “Dancing with the Stars”.
This is why some see it as strange that Holyfield would be a suspected customer of an Internet steroid provider who had him listed under the name “Evan Fields” with the exact same number, birth date, and address as Evander.

Holyfield has already announced to the public that he will undergo his own investigation into the situation in order to clear his name.

While some are in disbelief that the former champ might have broken boxing’s substance abuse rules, no one should be surprised that another one of the athletes on the list of customers bound for Alabama was former baseball slugger Jose Canseco who is still trying to revive his career in the minor leagues. He already admitted that he is a steroid user in his 2005 tell-all book Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big.

Conseco’s attorney, Robert Saunooke, is one person that doubts Conseco was actually a client of Signature Pharmacy as he stated, “I would find it highly unlikely. All the steroids that he got were prescribed to him or were from people in the gym. There\'s never been anything he\'s gotten online.”

Another major leaguer named Gary Matthews Jr. that is still quite active in the league was also implicated because of the list. Matthews was an all-star outfielder for the Anaheim Angels last season in his finest year yet. Regarding the truth of the matter he said, “I do expect it to resolve itself here in the near future. Until we get more information, I just can\'t comment on it.”

Some red flags have been raised with Matthews because the team has asked him to respond one way or another to the claims but he hasn’t given any definitive answer. Angels team owner Arte Moreno echoed this sentiment by saying, “We had a meeting just to basically tell him how we felt, that we\'re not going to ask you any questions until you\'re able to tell us, but we\'d like you to be straight up with us.”

Yet another major leaguer, John Rocker, had his name found in the Signature raid as well. Rocker, whose great pitching career was often overshadowed by his controversial racist and anti-New York comments, is a player who retired a couple of years ago after poor performances in an independent baseball league. He is denying the allegations that he ever used a banned substance during his career.

Perhaps one of the most interesting names that appeared on the list was that of professional wrestler Kurt Angle. It has been reported that Angle received prescriptions for Trenbolone and Nandrolone as well as other anabolic steroids. Kurt fired back by saying, “I did not improperly receive prescriptions. It is well documented that in my career I have broken vertebrae in my neck on five occasions and each time the course of treatment was under the care and supervision of my Doctors. Any attempt to link me to the athletes in the current news accounts who may have improperly sought performance-enhancing drugs is without foundation.”

The winner of the 2007 Arnold Classic bodybuilding competition, Victor Martinez, was named as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the case. This basically means that, as Albany, New York District Attorney David Soares said, “As of now, there are no indictments against him, sealed or otherwise. But he\'s a person of interest.” Martinez admitted to buying testosterone to treat his low levels from an Albany anti-aging center but declined partnership with them because of mistrust.

The craziest thing about this whole deal is that these athletes are only the people whose names have been released as authorities have said that there are many other major clients whose names were found throughout the Signature facilities as well.

Investigators uncovered evidence that testosterone and other performance-enhancing drugs had been sold to other professional baseball players, NFL players, a former Mr. Olympia, college athletes, high school coaches, and a Pittsburgh Steelers team doctor.

In the case of the Steelers doctor, Dr. Richard A. Rydze allegedly used his own credit card to buy over $150,000 worth of Human Growth Hormone and testosterone and was questioned by a New York investigator. Rydze defended himself by saying that the substances were bought in order to treat patients that he takes care of in his office.

One amazing twist in this case though is that it not only involves professional and amateur athletes, coaches, and team doctors as previous steroid-related scandals before it have. As Soares said, “There are celebrities involved in this case as consumers.”

It is suspected that celebrities have been purchasing Human Growth Hormone as well as other anti-aging treatments from the Orlando pharmacy in an attempt to reverse the aging process. However, Soares did not release anymore details about which celebrities were involved or the indictments made against workers for the pharmacy and stated, “I cannot elaborate anymore and I cannot provide you with any more details without compromising an investigation which, even at this point, is at a very sensitive stage.”

He did mention that an Albany man was arrested who was a doctor that was believed to be heavily involved with the $250,000 worth of illegal substances that were shipped by the pharmacy to New York to be sold.

It was also confirmed that a few more arrests in the case included the owners of Signature Pharmacy Stan and Naomi Loomis, Stan’s brother Mike Loomis, and the company’s marketing director Kirk Calvert. The store where these people worked included offices, a laboratory, and a retail section where bodybuilding supplements were sold.

Before Signature Pharmacy was exposed, it was primarily known as a maker of anti-aging products. Stan Loomis said in an advertising video, “We focus primarily on age management products and services. That relates primarily to hormones for both men and women. We work with the physician to tailor a dose and a specific product for a patient.”

Now Signature Pharmacy will be known as the biggest company in a gigantic steroid ring that stretched thousands of miles after narcotics officers seized anabolic steroids, Human Growth Hormone, and other drugs from the facility.

Interesting enough, the man at the forefront of the BALCO scandal, Victor Conte, had an almost philosophical opinion on the matter as he said, “The recent steroid raid in Florida doesn\'t surprise me at all. People from all walks of life now are using performance enhancing substances. From athletes to movie stars, there seems to be an ever-growing need to find a competitive edge.”

As a man who did hard time for his role in one of the biggest stories of recent years, Conte would know this better than most people. His remarks seem to reign true time and time again as law enforcement agents continue to crack down on these people who seek competitive advantages.

And the list of people who will go down this time hangs in the balance as prosecutors and investigators continue to go about their work in unearthing more shocking conclusions to this case. Who knows when the next set of famous athletes’ and celebrities’ names will finally be released in this case? All I know is that I’ll anxiously be awaiting more developments as they come about - and you\'ll hear about them first.
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Author: George Spellwin