Four facing steroid charges, By: Bill Byrd

Police stress anabolic steroids are not harmless

FAIRMONT — Four men have been arrested and charged with distributing anabolic steroids in Marion County, police said.

Using a confidential informant, undercover officers with the Three Rivers Drug Task Force made “controlled buys” of steroids from the four men in March and April, according to criminal complaints filed by police.

Those arrested and charged with delivery of anabolic steroids are: Bryan D. Drake, 26, of 1131 South Park Drive; Richard I. Mobley, 26, of Lamont Court; and Joshua Stottlemire, 26, last known address of 109 Naomi St., all of Fairmont; and Jason V. Strawser, 32, of 517 Wisconsin St., Westover.

Each man was charged with two felony counts of delivery of a controlled substance, i.e. anabolic steroids.

“A lot of people think anabolic steroids are harmless. They’re not,” Fairmont Police Chief Steve Cain said.

In recent months, police have been receiving complaints about steroids being sold locally, Cain said.

The task force, which is made up of officers from the Marion Sheriff’s department and the city police department, launched an investigation “some time ago,” he said Tuesday.

The investigation is continuing, said Fairmont Police Lt. Mark Hayes, a task force coordinator.

Drake, Stottlemire and Mobley were arrested Monday and taken to the North Central Regional Jail in Doddridge County. Strawser turned himself in Tuesday and was then arrested and charged.

Magistrate Hank Middlemas set bonds for Drake, Stottlemire and Mobley at $5,000 on each man’s two counts. Each man’s total bond was $10,000 in cash or surety.

Strawser’s bond was set at $10,000 cash or surety on each of the two counts filed against him. Magistrate M.L. “Peggy” Twyman set Strawser’s total bond at $20,000 cash or surety.

All four men had posted their bonds by Tuesday and had been released, court officials said.

Anabolic steroids are synthetic substances related to male sex hormones (androgens). They are used by doctors to treat conditions that occur when the body produces abnormally low amounts of testosterone, such as delayed puberty and some types of impotence, and also to treat body wasting in patients with AIDS and other diseases, according to a Web site maintained by the federal National Institute on Drug Abuse (www.drugabuse.gov/SteroidAlert/).

Athletes have used steroids in injectable, pill or capsule or even in ointment form since the 1950s. The drugs allow the body to recover more quickly from workouts and thus improve muscle building.

Steroids are legally available in the U.S. only by prescription from a doctor, the Web site states.

Side effects of abuse of oral or injectable steroids over time is “associated with increased risk for heart attacks and strokes, and the abuse of most oral anabolic steroids is associated with increased risk for severe liver problems,” the NIDA alert states.