>>>
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."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>
