Feds seize steroids from Laurel storage locker, By: Scott Daugherty
A personal trainer at a Glen Burnie fitness club imported thousands of doses of steroids from overseas and sold them throughout Anne Arundel County and on the Internet, federal authorities said.
Michael Schlanger, 47, an employee at Bally Total Fitness in Glen Burnie, was indicted Sept. 10 in federal court on conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids. He pleaded not guilty Oct. 20. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
According to court records, customs officials broke the case this summer when they seized a shipment of steroids at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York bound for Severna Park. That led police to a drug courier, who led them to a stash of more than 18,000 vials and tablets of anabolic steroids in a storage locker in Laurel.
Federal officials said the bust was "unprecedented" for the region.
"In 10 years ... I haven't seen a seizure of that size," said Floyd Pond, deputy director of the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force. His district also includes Virginia.
Ed Marcinko, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Baltimore, said the bust drastically cut the availability of steroids here.
"This seizure was a major blow," he said. He added, however, that most steroid sales are done over the Internet.
Mr. Schlanger's defense attorney, Andrew Alperstein, declined to comment yesterday. He said Mr. Schlanger, of Catonsville, is out of jail pending trial. No trial date has been set.
Matt Messinger, spokesman for Bally Total Fitness, said Mr. Schlanger worked for the company beginning in December 2003 and there were no complaints filed against him.
"He was a very well-liked trainer," Mr. Messinger said, adding that his bosses didn't learn of his arrest until they read about it Saturday in The (Baltimore) Sun.
According to court records, Mr. Schlanger, who did business over the Internet as [email protected], imported tens of thousands of vials and tablets of the muscle-building drugs through the mail for resale.
Customs agents in July intercepted two packages of steroids addressed to "County Crafts." The packages - one from China and one from Great Britain - were to be sent to a Severna Park UPS store, records said.
County police and federal authorities then set up a "controlled delivery" July 13 and arrested Pierre R. Gumucio, 31, and his girlfriend, Rachael Ann Martin, 28, when they arrived to retrieve the packages, records said.
In their car, police found 884 units of suspected steroids and ketamine, as well as a book with the word ANABOLIC on the cover, court records said.
Mr. Gumucio told investigators that he worked for Mr. Schlanger, receiving more than 100 packages - two or three boxes a week - over the past couple of years. He said he took payment in steroids, which he used himself and sold to buy ketamine, records said.
Mr. Gumucio also confessed to wiring drug payments overseas on Mr. Schlanger's behalf. He said officials with U.S. Customs and Western Union flagged Mr. Schlanger's name, making it impossible for him to do the work himself.
While talking to police, Mr. Gumucio pointed officers to a storage locker at Public Storage, 3607 Fort Meade Road. After getting a warrant, police searched it on July 14 and found 18,200 units. Police found Mr. Schlanger had rented the lockers since 2000 and that his personal security code had been used three times in the preceding two weeks, records said.
When police raided Mr. Schlanger's home that day, officers found two instant message conversations from "Mike S." to "hygetropin" and "hygene hgh" detailing the arrest of Mr. Gumucio the day before and how he shipped the drugs, records said.
Mr. Schlanger was previously charged with possession of steroids with intent to distribute in May 2001 in Prince George's County. Those charges, however, were eventually dismissed three months later, and no details were available.
