Former policeman faces term of 5 years, By: Tom Campbell
Ex-Petersburg officer enters guilty plea in case of illegal steroids
October 26, 2006
A former Petersburg policeman faces up to five years in federal prison when he is sentenced Jan. 18 for supplying illegal strength-building steroids to fellow officers.
Calvin Leon Felder, 35, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Richmond on Monday.
One of the officers who bought anabolic steroids from Felder repeatedly stomped on the head of a motorist he was arresting in October 2003, causing life-threatening injuries.
Michael Tweedy, the former officer, testified in his own case that he was in a steroid rage when he attacked the motorist. Tweedy is serving a nine-year sentence in federal prison for violating the victim's civil rights.
Felder worked as a Petersburg officer from September 2000 through April 2004. According to court papers, he has admitted that he sold steroids to Tweedy and other officers in 2002 and 2003. The price for a six- to eight-week course of the steroids ranged from $200 to $600.
At a July news conference announcing the allegations against Felder, law-enforcement officials said a yearlong investigation had found six then-current or former Petersburg police officers who said they had bought steroids from Felder to improve strength and stamina. Four of the officers were dismissed, and two were punished.
Tweedy was a steroid customer of Felder's in 2002 and 2003, according to a statement of facts filed in the case. In 2003 the substance, which Felder obtained over the Internet, was Finaplix, a trade name for trenbolone, a veterinary steroid used in beef cattle.
Felder prepared the Finaplix for human use by crushing the tablets and mixing the powder with an oily mixture found in steroid conversion kits that sold over the Internet, according to the statement. The mixture could then be injected. Felder also supplied syringes and showed at least one officer how to inject himself and to rotate the injection site to minimize pain and inflammation.
Felder's lawyer, Todd B. Stone, said his client remains free on bond pending sentencing. Stone said that he and Felder "look forward to a sentencing hearing that will show he is a good-hearted family man."
