Steroid customer records to remain sealed, judge rules, By: Pedro Ruz Gutierrez

April 21, 2007

Kissimmee· Records of customers who bought steroids and other performance enhancers from an Orlando pharmacy under criminal investigation will remain sealed.

Osceola Circuit Judge John Marshall Kest on Friday sided with lawyers for Signature Compounding Pharmacy and denied a state request that he reverse an earlier ruling. 

The pharmacy's attorneys went to court last month arguing that "innocent" third-party records were taken on Feb. 27, when two search warrants were served at Signature's two locations by local, state and federal agents investigating a nationwide steroid distribution ring.

Rumors about professional athletes suspected of ordering the banned substances have been swirling since New York authorities arrested more than a dozen operators of online wellness centers and spas and several physicians. Prosecutors have met with Major League Baseball and National Football League officials, something Signature's attorneys noted in court records.

Kest ordered April 5 that the records be sealed and that prosecutors notify Signature's patients of its investigation.

"These individuals are entitled to a procedure that will properly protect their privacy rights," Kest wrote.

In court documents, Statewide Prosecutor Ann Wedge-McMillen said that about 128,000 prescription orders seized by investigators would make notification impractical and cost about $25,000. But the investigation will continue.

Signature attorneys Amy Tingley and Robert Case also are asking Kest to order the return of numerous documents and drugs seized during raids at the company's pharmacies in Orlando and Winter Park.

Prosecutors say Signature Pharmacy was at the nexus of the nationwide ring, with at least three Palm Beach County clinics feeding them bogus prescriptions. So far, 20 people have been arrested, including at least nine connected to the South Florida clinics. Aaron J. Peterson, 30, of Delray Beach and one New York doctor have pleaded guilty.

Arrested Feb. 27 were Naomi Loomis, 33, Signature's chief executive officer; her husband, Robert "Stan" Loomis, 55, chief operating officer; his brother, Kenneth "Mike" Loomis, 59, head compounding pharmacist; and Kirk Calvert, 37, director of business development.

Claire Godfrey, a Seminole County obstetrician with ties to Signature, was arrested a few days later. All five are charged in Albany, N.Y., with numerous felony drug dispensing and distribution charges and have pleaded not guilty.

Their names surfaced Friday during a plea hearing in an Albany courtroom when a Houston couple admitted taking online orders for prescription drugs and faxing them to doctors such as Godfrey.