>>
http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_6991752?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www...
>>
>> Steroids sting leads to arrest of 2 brothers from Bay Area
>> ONE ALLEGEDLY STOLE DRUGS WHILE WORKING AT GENENTECH
>> By Sean Webby
>> Mercury News
>> Article Launched: 09/25/2007 01:33:50 AM PDT
>>
>> Snagged by a sprawling federal steroids sting, two Bay Area brothers are
>> facing federal allegations that they stole human growth hormone from
>> biotech giant Genentech Inc. and sold it through a sports nutrition store
>> in San Jose.
>>
>> Their arrests represented just a fraction of Operation Raw Deal, the
>> largest steroid crackdown in U.S. history, a coordinated effort to disrupt
>> worldwide steroid manufacturing and distribution.
>>
>> The Drug Enforcement Agency, which announced the operation Monday, was
>> assisted by nine other countries, including China. Agents raided 56 labs
>> across the country that manufactured anabolic steroids and human growth
>> hormone and seized 11.4 million doses of drugs, according to the DEA.
>>
>> Locally, Lance Tomlinson, 38, of San Jose, who owns Max Muscle Sports
>> Nutrition in San Jose, and his brother, Brandon, 44, of Burlingame, who
>> works at Genentech, are facing time in federal prison if they are
>> convicted of conspiracy to possess and intent to distribute human growth
>> hormone. One of Lance Tomlinson's employees, Jeffrey Coffron, 33, of San
>> Jose was also charged.
>>
>> Brandon Tomlinson was released on $100,000 bail; his brother is still in
>> custody and is scheduled to appear in court today.
>>
>> A married couple from Southern California, Larry Pollack and Lynda
>> Wallace, were also nabbed as part of the local dragnet, spearheaded from
>> the San Jose office of the DEA, and charged Sept. 17 with possession and
>> intent to distribute steroids. It looks as though the couple and the
>> brothers were fingered by the same confidential informant - an underground
>> steroid lab operator.
>>
>> None of the defendants could be reached for comment.
>>
>> At Tomlinson's Muscle Max store on Meridian Avenue, an employee refused to
>> comment. Muscle Max is a franchise with other locations in the Bay Area
>> that aren't connected to Tomlinson.
>>
>> The Bay Area brothers and three other local defendants have no known
>> connection to other defendants of Operation Raw Deal, a DEA official said.
>> Some of those busts were much bigger. In Long Island, N.Y., for example,
>> agents seized 800,000 doses of alleged steroids.
>>
>> "Everything is interwoven in the market for steroids," said Michael
>> Chapman, assistant special agent in charge of the DEA in Northern
>> California. "This is a big attempt by the DEA to go after major players."
>>
>> In the two local cases, agents seized a total of 73 bottles of human
>> growth hormone; 79 vials of steroids, some crystal methamphetamine and 15
>> marijuana plants. HGH is used legally for medical purposes - such as to
>> counteract wasting caused by AIDS - and illegally as the stealth drug that
>> has such athletes as St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel under a
>> cloud of suspicion.
>>
>> The case against the Tomlinson brothers began earlier this year with tips
>> and help from four confidential informants. One informant said that a Max
>> Muscle store in San Jose was selling HGH and other controlled drugs,
>> according to a court document.
>>
>> The informant reported the drug was being stolen from Genentech, a South
>> San Francisco company that manufactures HGH for medical uses.
>> Investigators later confirmed that Brandon Tomlinson worked there.
>>
>> Another informant told agents Lance Tomlinson said he could get him
>> "anything" - referring to steroids, HGH and the painkiller Vicodin.
>>
>> Before he approached a federal agent with information, one informant
>> worked his own private sting against the brothers - buying drugs,
>> including HGH, from Tomlinson, who bragged of connections with the Mexican
>> Mafia gang, according to court documents.
>>
>> He was allegedly getting the drugs from a connection at Genentech - his
>> brother Brandon, who worked there.
>>
>> An informant later contacted Genentech security with an offer to expose
>> the alleged inside theft. The company worked with the informant to buy
>> $2,000 worth of the drug from Lance Tomlinson, paying the informant an
>> additional $500 as an "extra thank you," court records show.
>>
>> In an e-mail, Genentech officials said the company "takes these charges
>> against one of its employees very seriously and is fully cooperating with
>> the investigation."
>>
>> "Our growth hormone products are approved for use in children and adults
>> with growth hormone deficiency and growth failure associated with serious
>> diseases. The appropriate use of human growth hormone is extremely
>> important to Genentech."
>>
>> Genentech also said it has "strict policies to maintain control and
>> security over our products," but did not elaborate.
>>
>> An informant allegedly provided an undercover agent with the opportunity
>> to buy HGH from an employee at Max Muscle, Jeffrey Coffron.
>>
>> The suspects were all arrested at their homes Thursday. Also seized were
>> some crystal meth and marijuana, court records say.
>>
>> On a broader level, experts disagreed on the impact of the big steroid
>> sting.
>>
>> "I think this underscores the magnitude of the problem," said Gary Wadler,
>> a New York expert on drugs in sports and a member of the World Anti-Doping
>> Agency. "This isn't just a problem confined to elite athletes or a couple
>> guys in a gym shooting HGH. This is a big business, a pyramid whose
>> structure works down to a base of high school students."
>>
>> But Victor Conte, the mastermind behind Balco Laboratories, was more
>> cynical about what impact the crackdown will have on athletics.
>>
>> Conte, the lab founder who was convicted in 2005 of steroid and money
>> laundering charges after the local case that blew the lid off steroid use
>> in sports, wrote in an e-mail to the Mercury News: "I still don't believe
>> there is a genuine interest by the Olympic governing body officials or
>> those who control the dollars in professional sports to crack down on the
>> rampant use of drugs. They're simply afraid of the truth because it will
>> reveal the fact that it's all about the money. In short, athletes will
>> simply go back to having someone get the drugs from a friend of a friend
>> of a friend.
>>
>> "Most are not stupid enough to give their name, address and credit card
>> over the Internet. The anti-doping policies and procedures are still inept
>> and until they establish more effective testing procedures there will
>> continue to be rampant use of drugs in sport."
>>
>>
>>
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