Report: Police didn't illegally buy steroids from Deerfield pharmacy, By: Stephanie Slater

March 16, 2006, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Two police officers have been cleared of allegations that they illegally purchased anabolic steroids from a Deerfield Beach pharmacy under federal investigation, according to an internal affairs report released Thursday.

Sgt. Russ Mager and officer Gerry Rich did, however, buy the steroids from PowerMedica without ever meeting the doctor who prescribed the drugs, the investigation revealed.

By law, they didn't have to.

"I find this extremely difficult to understand and even more difficult to accept that members of this department would not have those same concerns," Police Chief Larry Schroeder wrote in his review of the investigation. "I hope and pray that something can be done to rectify this loophole before someone dies."

Police are still reviewing a claim that a third city officer illegally bought the prescription drugs. Police would not disclose the officer's name.

The investigation into Mager's steroid use was prompted by an anonymous phone call in June, police said. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw called Schroeder in August when Rich's name surfaced in PowerMedica's customer files, which were seized by Food and Drug Administration agents in February 2005.

The company, which is accused of selling anabolic steroids and human growth hormones without a valid doctor's prescription, was later shut down.