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Steroid bust largest in region, police say

Steroid bust largest in region, police say, By: Dan Higgins Thousands of vials, pills, dollars found at Rensselaer home of Christopher J. Magnano at time of arrest May 24, 2006, Times Union COLONIE -- The seizure of $50,000 in illegal steroids announced by town police and federal investigators today is the largest ever in the Capital Region, authorities said. Christopher J. Magnano, of 2 Sequoia Drive in Rensselaer, is facing charges he received illegal steroids through the mail and courier services from other countries and re-sold them on the Internet. Colonie Police, officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Food and Drug Administration's criminal enforcement arm conducted the investigation. Magnano, 33, was arrested last week, but today police offered more details of the investigation and displayed the results of a raid at the suspect's home. He faces three felony counts related to drug possession with the intent to sell. Magnano, who Colonie Police said has a drug arrest dating from the mid-1990s, allegedly ordered 2 kilograms of illegal anabolic steroids from a Chinese company. Federal officials said they had been watching him for a year and decided to move in when he was to receive the Chinese shipment. He was arrested on Friday at the DHL office on Wolf Road in Latham. Police executed a search warrant on his Rensselaer home and discovered the cache of illegal pills and vials of substances like human growth hormone. At the time of his arrest he also had approximately one ounce of powdered cocaine on him, which police said was for personal use. The raid also netted three laptop computers, several other hard drives, and about $3,000 in cash. Federal charges are pending, said Jack McQuade, the resident agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Albany, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. McQuade said the federal probe will include determining from which countries he was ordering the steroids. Charges could include illegal importation and money laundering, McQuade said. Magnano was arraigned last Friday and remanded to Albany County jail pending further court action.