Police On Anabolic Steroids To Gain The Upper Hand

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(similar article as above but slightly different take)

Dirty Cop Turned Steroid Kingpin Blames Bodybuilding Culture for His Actions

Sergeant Steven Santucci was an exemplary and decorated cop for over a decade with the Newtown Police Department. Then he got involved in the “bodybuilding culture”. Santucci now wants to blame bodybuilding for turning him into a dirty cop who made hundreds of thousands of dollars as a steroid kingpin who illegally operated two underground steroid laboratories (UGLs).

Santucci apparently forgot that drug trafficking was illegal given the acceptance of steroid use within the bodybuilding community. At least this is what his attorneys want the judge to believe when he is sentenced to prison next week.

“Around age 30, Santucci turned to steroids to get an edge so that he could develop the body image he desperately sought,” the attorney for Santucci wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “Santucci himself explained that he has always been a fitness guy and he wanted to be a weight lifter.”

Santucci never really wanted to get into steroid trafficking. But after he started home brewing his own supply of steroids from raw steroid powder, some of his friends at the gym asked if he could sell steroids to them. He agreed and claimed that he just wanted to help a few people out.

“By the time of his arrest, he was selling to nine or 10 individuals… He got lulled into believing that what he was selling was ‘just steroids’ and it was ‘no big deal.’”

In December 2015, Santucci pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute a Schedule III controlled substance (anabolic steroids) and one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. The plea agreement came after a lengthy criminal investigation codenamed Operation Juice Box led to his arrest.

Operation Juice Box began with an anonymous letter that accused Santucci of manufacturing and distributing anabolic steroids. Steroid samples – from Crox Gear and V Labs – allegedly produced by Santucci accompanied the letter. The 15-year veteran Newton Police Sergeant was eventually exposed as the owner and operator of those two UGLs.

A criminal affidavit characterized Santucci as a corrupt cop who lived the life of a drug kingpin while earning a cop's salary. Santucci deposited over $300,000 in cash in his bank account between 2011 and 2014. Santucci also charged his credit cards for $310,648 as he traveled to exotic locations around the world. He stayed at luxury hotels and resorts, enjoyed trips on celebrity cruises and went on an African safari.

Before Santucci's plea agreement, the NPD cop faced over 20 years in prison. As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors and his defense attorney have agreed to a 57 to 71-month prison sentence and a fine between $10,000 and $100,000. But that is still too much prison time for Santucci.

Santucci's attorney hopes the judge will buy into his argument that “bodybilding culture” is to blame for sucking Santucci into a life of crime. If so, the judge may even be willing to hand down a sentence that is “well below” the recommendations outlined in Santucci's plea agreement.

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Steroids May Be Behind The Aggressive Behavior Of US Police

In 2004, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) listed the many side-effects of steroid use, including mood swings, impaired judgment, depression, increased aggression, extreme irritability, hostility, and delusional behavior.

Endemic steroid abuse could go a long way to explaining the aggressive and violent behavior used by American police, especially in situations that could easily have been safely de-escalated, according to the Free Thought Project. As with methamphetamine abuse, steroids bring a sense of invincibility, making the user feel indestructible.

According to the DEA, “The idea of enhanced physical strength and endurance provides one with ‘the invincible mentality’ when performing law enforcement duties.”

Many examples of police brutality represent a trend in overt law-enforcement violence that could be the result of steroid abuse.

There currently is no policy to regulate the use of steroids by active-duty weapon-carrying law-enforcement employees. Some police unions claim that drug tests, similar to those administered every day to suspects, violate their civil rights. A deeper reason why some refuse to be tested is that they are involved in selling, and using, steroids.

Steven Santucci, a former police sergeant, got his department’s attention after he routinely took $30,000-$100,000 vacations, all on an annual salary of some $80,000, before deductions. In April 2015 Santucci was arrested for running an anabolic steroid manufacturing and distribution network. He received a delay in sentencing twice, first to complete training to become an electrician, and second, due to “some scheduling conflicts,” according to attorney Dan LaBelle. On August 25 Santucci was finally sentenced to a mere 16 months in prison, along with two years of supervised release.

The disgraced cop sold enormous quantities of steroids to police officers, who used and further distributed his illicit product.

Santucci, however, may be the tip of the iceberg in the United States. Steroid use is a popular tactic for police officers and an epidemic, which until recently has been quietly shoved under the rug, is now revealed as the cause of much unnecessary violence and is shown to be a danger to the public.