Feds say probe into Mobile pharmacy remains active

Saturday, December 15, 2007

By BRENDAN KIRBY
* Staff Reporter*

A federal criminal probe of a Mobile online pharmacy implicated in the
baseball steroids scandal remains active, authorities said Friday.

Agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency raided the offices of Applied
Pharmacy Services on International Drive near Bel Air Mall last year,
seizing a moving van's worth of business records.

Tom Wade, the resident agent in charge of the DEA's Mobile office, said
he could not divulge whether or when charges might be filed.

"It's in the hands of the U.S. Attorney's Office," he said.

Arthur Madden, a Mobile lawyer who represents the company, reiterated
that Applied Pharmacy is a legitimate business.

"Their license is in place," he said. "They're open for business."

Neither Wade nor prosecutors would discuss findings from the
comprehensive report released Thursday by former U.S. Senate Majority
Leader George Mitchell, who spent 20 months investigating the use of
steroids and other banned substances in major league baseball.

"We cannot comment on that case because it is an active investigation,"
said Tommy Loftis, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Mobile.

Applied Pharmacy is one of a handful of businesses that have been
targeted by law enforcement investigators.

It is a compounding pharmacy, a name give to pharmacies that order the
raw materials for prescription medications and then produce the drugs.
The company's Web site advertises itself as a source for "hard-to-find
medications and customized delivery systems for physicians and patients."

The Mitchell report notes that the raid on Applied Pharmacy in December
2006 grew out of an investigation by the District Attorney's Office in
Albany, N.Y., which identified Applied as the source for some of a New
York doctor's products.

One media report earlier this year stated that an Albany grand jury had
indicted two of Applied Pharmacy's principals but had sealed the
indictment. Madden said he is not aware of any charges against the
pharmacy's owners -- Alston S. "Sam" Kelley and Jason R. Kelley -- or
anyone else employed by the company.

Wade said the federal investigation is separate from the one in New York.

Thursday's report lists five current and former Major League baseball
players, whose names previously appeared in media reports, who allegedly
obtained performance-enhancing drugs supplied by the Mobile company.
They are:

David Bell. The third baseman was among the customers who appeared in
records seized from Applied Pharmacy, according to a Sports Illustrated
story cited by the Mitchell Report. That article states Bell purchased
six packages of human chronic gonadotropin, or HCG, from the pharmacy in
April 2005 while he was a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.

HCG is a hormone produced during pregnancy and used by steroid abusers
to counter the side effects of steroid use on the body's production of
testosterone.

Jose Canseco. In 2004, the former Oakland A's star reportedly bought a
human growth hormone called somatropin, testosterone, stanozolol and
HGC, along with 340 syringes.

The report cites a Sports Illustrated article as saying the products
were shipped to Canseco's home in California. That same article quoted
his lawyer, Robert Saunooke, as doubting that his client was a customer
of Applied Pharmacy.

The report states that Saunooke later confirmed to Mitchell's
investigators, however, that Canseco had purchased HGH over the Internet
on a number of occasions before and after his retirement.

Jerry Hairston Jr. The Texas Rangers outfielder was another player whose
name showed up on Applied Pharmacy's customer list, according to the
report.

Again quoting the Sports Illustrated article, the report states Hairston
purchased the human growth hormone Genotropin, HCG and clomiphene
citrate from the pharmacy in May 2004. Hairston has denied the
allegation but did not answer questions from Mitchell's staff.

Gary Matthews Jr. The Los Angeles Angels outfielder's name appeared on
Applied's customer list. Quoting Sports Illustrated, the Mitchell report
states the pharmacy's records show Applied Pharmacy shipped a package of
Genotropin to Matthews in August 2004.

John Rocker. The former Atlanta Braves closer received two prescriptions
for the HGH somatropin between April and July 2003, according to the
report. Rocker initially denied the allegations, but the New York Daily
News later quoted his spokesman as saying the pitcher had been
prescribed HGH in connection with shoulder surgery.

Madden declined to comment about allegations in the Mitchell document,
but he pointed out that it relied heavily on media reports.

"If you look at the footnotes, all the references are newspaper
articles," he said. "I thought there was less to it than met the eye."


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