Prosecutor takes over steroids probe, By: Kevin Shea
Mercer County officers allegedly bought drugs
August 25, 2007
The Mercer County Prosecutor's Office has taken over the investigation into a group of Mercer County police officers that is accused of illegally buying human growth hormone, known as HGH, for personal use, the office confirmed yesterday.
And the case may be heating up, multiple law enforcement sources tell The Times.
The probe, which came to light in May of last year, started as a federal investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Camden after federal investigators forwarded them information from a case in Ohio concerning a Florida dentist who was dealing with HGH.
The dentist, Jeffrey M. Weiser, of Lake Worth, Fla., is a former New Jersey resident who in 2005 pleaded guilty in federal court in Cincinnati to selling HGH and other controlled substances over the Internet.
As part of that investigation, Weiser's records and e-mail correspondence were seized and law enforcement sources have said those records led to a group of mainly Trenton police officers and at least one Mercer County Sheriff's officer.
Sources say federal prosecutors ultimately handed over the investigation to the New Jersey Attorney General's office, and they in turn handed it over to Mercer prosecutors.
Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, would only confirm the office has the investigation and refused to answer any other questions about the case.
Law enforcement sources, however, say there has been recent activity on the case including discussions between prosecutors and the Trenton Police Department. Trenton police spokesman Sgt. Pedro Medina also refused to answer questions about the probe.
Weiser, who once lived in Marlton in Burlington County, retired in May 2001, federal authorities have said, and moved to Florida, where he opened a personal fitness consulting business.
His business maintained a presence on a number of Internet Web sites promoting personal fitness, body building and the use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.
In 2001, authorities say, Weiser began prescribing testosterone and other anabolic steroids such as Nandrolone, Oxandrolone, Stanozolol, as well as prescription HGH for what officials say were hundreds of his personal fitness customers throughout the United States. They say he also began prescribing drugs to offset the side effects of anabolic steroid abuse for these same customers.
HGH can be legally prescribed to promote bone and tissue growth for specific ailments.
But Weiser prescribed the drugs without ever meeting his clients, who officials say came to him through referrals or the Internet.
The federal investigation of Weiser shows that customers e-mailed their requests to Weiser, who then faxed the prescriptions to various pharmacies throughout the country. The customers then paid the pharmacies for the drugs and paid Weiser a fee for each prescription, authorities said.
Although he pleaded guilty in 2005, Weiser's federal sentencing has been delayed because of his "substantial assistance" to authorities in jurisdictions outside Ohio.
Weiser's Florida lawyer said yesterday the sentencing is scheduled for October.
