Tennessee UG lab busted and 32 people indicted.

[Bouncer]

A two-year drug investigation into steroid trafficking that began at a Warren County YMCA has led to the secret indictments of 32 people from six counties.

Investigators said the case, which led Warren County Drug Task Force members to the source of the drugs and a clandestine lab located in Tennessee, was initiated after officials received complaints of steroid use at the Countryside YMCA in Lebanon.

“This is one of the biggest cases in terms of the number of charges and individuals in recent history,” said county Prosecutor David Fornshell.

Those indicted and arrested were from Warren, Butler, Hamilton, Montgomery, Clinton and Clermont counties. Fornshell said the indictments have been handed down over a period of time but have remained secret and had not been released.

The people indicted are facing more than 100 charges, ranging from engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity to trafficking and possessing drugs. A news conference is scheduled for Tuesday, when officials are expected to provide details into the investigation.

Mike Carroll, Countryside YMCA president and CEO, said about two years ago he heard a rumor that someone was trying to push steroids in the facility’s cardio strength area. While he did not have any names or other information, Carroll said, “I treat rumors like that very seriously.”

Carroll said he contacted the county prosecutor’s office, which referred the complaint to the county Drug Task Force.

Carroll said he was the only person at the Y who was aware that an undercover agent was investigating the complaint. He said he would receive updates from the Drug Task Force on the investigation about every four to six months.

“It’s our desire to keep this kind of illicit activity out of the community and out of our facility,” Carroll said. “I’m delighted that it has culminated in a positive law enforcement action. I guess it takes time as it was my understanding that they were going after the manufacturers and traffickers. It was one of those things that one thing led to another that led to another.”

Carroll said, “to my knowledge, there are no employees involved.” However, he said he was not 100 percent sure as he does not know who has been indicted.

Maj. John Burke, drug task force commander, declined to comment on the indictments until Tuesday’s news conference.

[auri]

It's amazing how shit defies gravity and rolls uphill.

Be safe people.

[Ashop]

more and more of these stories are coming up for sure...niggas better stock up now on chems/powders/etc while they can:D

The gym has always had a bad rep for a place to move AAS,,someones bound to snitch,,,possibly the cops working out there too??

[Bouncer]

Local professional athletes – who haven’t been charged -- are being probed in a far-reaching Warren County drug investigation that busted a clandestine anabolic steroids lab in Tennessee and led to indictments of 32 people, authorities said Tuesday.
“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).”

Burke added that authorities had strong indication that high school students were also buying steroids but officials weren’t able to identify any of them. Officials didn’t name any schools.

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.

But now the suspects are facing potentially long prison terms, Burke said. About 10 of them face a first-degree felony charge of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, which carries a prison term of three to 10 years.

At a news conference Tuesday, James Deir, resident agent in charge of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, characterized the operation this way: “It’s bar none unbelievable in the amount and the complexity of it.” He said the Warren County case is the largest steroid investigation he’s seen in many years.

A 53-year-old Lebanon man, Charlie Godsey, also would be facing charges but he died, authorities said.

During the investigation, Godsey told a detective that he had suffered a massive heart attack three years earlier, “and he (Godsey) attributed it to steroid use,” Burke said. “What’s even more astonishing is that he never stopped using steroids after that.”

Godsey died in April. Burke didn’t know the official ruling on Godsey’s cause of death. But when asked whether the death may have been steroid-related, Burke said, “It would be hard to believe that it wasn’t.”

Anabolic steroids help muscles grow bigger and stronger, but, as an article on ESPN.com says: “non-medical use of anabolic steroids is illegal and banned by most, if not all, major sports organizations. Still, some athletes persist in taking them, believing that these substances provide a competitive advantage. But ….anabolic steroids can cause serious physical and psychological side effects.”

Scandals over the use of performance-enhancing drugs has led to questions involving many well-known baseball players, including Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez.

The Warren County probe began in January 2010, when authorities received two separate complaints about steroid abuse at the Ralph J. Stolle Countryside YMCA in Lebanon, along with concerns that some of the drugs were being dealt to high school athletes, Burke said.

Mike Carroll, president of Countryside YMCA, said he immediately went to prosecutors when he caught wind that someone might be selling steroids there.

“Our desire is, of course, zero-tolerance and to try to get that element out of the Y and out of the community. So I think this was probably a significant step forward in trying to get that done,” Carroll said.

An undercover officer began making regular visits to the YMCA to seemingly work out in the weight room. He began purchasing steroids off the YMCA grounds from a person he met at the facility, Burke said.

Information led local authorities and federal ATF agents to a large seizure of steroids in Clinton County and more buys from a supplier who ran a lab in Montgomery County. Children were present at both those busts, Burke said.

At a news conference Tuesday, Burke told how one alleged dealer used a system of metal lockers at a Blue Ash office building to sell the steroids. He said Matthew Geraci, 37, a landscaping company owner from Sycamore Township, was behind that operation.

“The steroids would be put in your locker. You had a key to your locker. You went in the locker …opened it up, got your steroids out … put your money in and that’s how this operation started,” Burke said.

Authorities secretly kept watch on the lockers around the clock, he said.

The investigation came to a head June 21, when authorities served numerous search warrants at residences in Hamilton, Butler and Clermont counties and various bank accounts and safety deposit boxes, Burke said. Liquid steroids, steroid tablets and computer equipment containing drug ledgers, vehicles and U.S. currency were seized.

Two weeks later, again armed with search warrants, they seized $600,000 in liquid anabolic steroids and tablets and kilos of steroid powder at a clandestine steroid lab. Also seized were numerous assault rifles, semiautomatic pistols, shotguns, ammunitions and almost $300,000 in money and vehicles, Burke said.

Burke said Geraci, along with 18 others, admitted to their involvement in steroid trafficking in the region. Those indicted are from Hamilton, Butler, Warren County, Clermont, Clinton and Montgomery counties and Tennessee. Four people have already pleaded guilty.

Among those indicted in the sting were Joseph Lochard, 37, who runs Ultimate Fitness in Liberty Township; Michael S. Dorazio, 48, of Loveland, a manager at LA Fitness in West Chester; and Richard Blevins, a Milford resident and owner of Nirvana Nutrition in Symmes Township. In March, Blevins, 38, clinched the 2011 Overall “Mr. Cincinnati” title in a National Physique Committee contest. A website proclaims that contest “is going natural” next year.

Urban Active in Deerfield Township was the only gym where an undercover agent actually bought drugs at an exercise facility, Burke said. Joshua Haberstroh, 37, a West Chester bodybuilder, was arrested in those transactions.

In another twist, a 26-year-old exotic dancer, Tina Reifenberger of Middletown, was arrested in Casper, Wyo., on Tuesday, officials said. Reifenberger, who goes by the stage names, "Tinker Bell," "Diamond" and "Sasha," allegedly "fronted" some of the steroid deals, officials said.

Stephanie and Jason Sherrill, a Tennessee couple who allegedly operated the clandestine lab in Tullahoma and Manchester, Tenn., Burke said.

In late June, the Sherrills moved the lab from their home in Tullahoma to a trailer owned by Kenneth Freeman of Manchester.

Burke said the Sherrills were importing the steroid powder from China, mixing it with olive oil and packaging it in vials for distribution.

It was a lucrative business for the couple, he said.

“They were making four or five times what they had in each vial. It cost them $25 to make and they sold it for $85 to $125 a vial,” Burke said.

By Tuesday evening, all of the indicted suspects except one had been caught or surrendered, officials said. Only Cory McIntosh, 28, of Maineville, remained at large. He’s wanted on six counts of drug trafficking.