Staten Island Doctor, Brooklyn Pharmacy Charged in Steroids Probe

NEW YORK (AP)  -- A pharmacy and doctor who ran an ``anti-aging'' clinic became the latest targets of an investigation into illegal steroid use that already has led to a suicide and random drug testing at the New York Police Department.


Juliet Papa reports.

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes announced indictments Tuesday against Dr. Richard Lucente and his New York Anti-Aging & Wellness Medical Services on Staten Island. A third defendant is Lowen's Pharmacy in Brooklyn.

All three defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy; Lucente faces 76 additional counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance and one count of reckless endangerment in the death of a bodybuilder.

Prosecutors allege that Lucente wrote prescriptions to patients who had no medical need for them, and steered them to Lowen's in return for nearly $30,000 in kickbacks. Lucente also collected about $500,000 in fees from about 220 clients who were provided with steroids or other illegal substances, Hynes said.

``He gained a reputation as someone who would sell ... to any bodybuilder, weightlifter or athlete,'' Hynes said.

Lucente, 37, pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Tuesday and was released on $20,000 bail. He refused to speak to reporters outside court. His lawyer, John Meringolo, called the charges ``absurd.''

Meringolo said his client was a community doctor with years of experience providing medical care and emotional support to patients.

``He helped people. He saved people's lives,'' Meringolo said. ``We believe he will be vindicated at trial.''

Lucente faces 5 1/2 years on each of the 76 counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance.

Lowen's pharmacy first made headlines in 2007, when state narcotics agents raided it and seized nearly $8 million in human growth hormone and anabolic steroids.

Those raids were part of a probe by the Albany County district attorney's office into steroids-peddling clinics and pharmacies in Florida, Alabama, New York and Texas. After the raid, Brooklyn authorities began investigating.

The owner of Lowen's pharmacy, John Rossi, fatally shot himself last year amid the criminal probe. Rossi, 56, was named in former Sen. George Mitchell's report on drug use in baseball. The other owners of the pharmacy are not charged in the case.

Lowen's, which for decades was known as an old-fashioned neighborhood pharmacy in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, could be fined and possibly shut down if convicted.

``The Lowen's companies are currently inactive and have been for quite some time due to the tragic death of their principal,'' said pharmacy attorney Richard Signorelli. ``I hope that today will be the first step of a process that will involve ending this unfortunate situation for the family of the deceased.''

While the indictment was announced a day after Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez admitted he took steroids while playing for the Texas Rangers from 2001-03, Brooklyn prosecutors said the timing of the indictment was unrelated.

Prosecutors said Lucente was known in gyms around the city for his willingness to write prescriptions for weightlifters and bodybuilders who wanted to bulk up fast. Business was so lucrative at his clinic that he shifted his focus from osteopathy almost entirely to illegally providing steroids, Hynes said.

Staten Island bodybuilder Joe Baglio, who had undergone a heart transplant, received steroids illegally from Lucente and died of heart failure, Hynes said. But Meringolo said Baglio had gall bladder surgery shortly before his death and that there was no proof Lucente's involvement had lead to his death.

Records seized from Lowen's indicated that its clientele included several NYPD officers who worked out at the same gym, prompting an internal affairs investigation and random drug testing.

Investigators questioned 17 officers. Of those, nine -- including six who failed steroid tests -- were disciplined by being docked vacation days and put on probation. Another eight officers have tested positive since random testing began in January 2008.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the NYPD has a strict anti-steroid policy. ``You can't use steroids when you're in the department,'' Kelly said Tuesday.

It is not illegal in New York for a pharmacy to dispense steroids and human growth hormone for valid medical purposes, but their activities are regulated and it is a crime for a doctor to prescribe drugs without examining the patient.

Lucente opened the wellness center in 2005 in a building called ``The Fountain of Youth.'' It has since been shut down.

He graduated in 1998 from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and was chief resident at the Lutheran Medical Center in 2001. He has a family practice on Staten Island and lectured on male hormone replacement therapy and cardiovascular risk reduction.