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Five Valley residents charged in steriod sting
[SIZE=-1]Allentown Morning Call[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Staring into the camera, his muscles rippling in bright light, George Koufalis boasts he's been steroid-free for a year.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]''I don't have the hardness or the leanness or the veins,'' Koufalis says in a clip posted on YouTube three months ago. ''But I feel good overall.''[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Turns out there might have been a reason Koufalis was substance-free.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]An August 2008 search of his home on Greens Drive in Wescosville turned up 89 bottles of steroids, 900 pills containing steroids, four guns, more than $12,000 in cash and boxes of empty syringes, according to court documents filed by agents from the state Bureau of Narcotics Investigations.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]And on Tuesday, Attorney General Tom Corbett charged Koufalis and nine other people -- including four others from the Lehigh Valley -- in connection with an alleged steroid manufacturing and distribution scheme in Lehigh, Northampton, Dauphin and Cumberland counties.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The state's top cop dubbed the probe ''Operation Roid Runner'' and said its participants brought more than $170,000 worth of steroids from China, Panama and Mexico into Pennsylvania.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]''We need to take those who distribute this poison off our streets,'' Corbett said at a news conference announcing the arrests.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]In addition to Koufalis, 34, now of 2158 Woodridge Drive, Lower Macungie Township, those charged locally are: John Sassaman, 51, of 1803 Stratford Court, Salisbury Township; Chad Gillespie, 33, of 740 Fourth St., Catasauqua; Marcus Lazaro, 29, of 123 Somerset St., Freemansburg; and Christopher Niemczyk, 31, of 1013 Old Course Lane, Williams Township.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The defendants face an array of drug charges. If convicted and sentenced to the maximum, they would face decades in jail and tens of thousands of dollars in fines.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]On the Web, Koufalis and Niemczyk call themselves competitive bodybuilders. On bodybuilding.com, Koufalis lists his accomplishment as including Mr. Lehigh Valley 2005 and Mr. Pennsylvania 2005.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Sassaman was arrested previously, in 1987 at his former apartment on Levan Street in Allentown. City police and federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents accused him then of possessing a pound of cocaine.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]His case was among the first in which police were permitted by law to seize a criminal's possessions, if they were related to his crimes. In Sassaman's case, police took his Corvette before he was sentenced to 11/2 to five years in prison.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Evidence and testimony about the alleged illegal steroid activity was presented to a statewide grand jury, which recommended the charges, Corbett's office said.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]According to the grand jury, five other people obtained and sold steroids in Dauphin and Cumberland counties.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]They included two personal trainers, Stacy, 38, and Eric Garonzik, 39, former spouses from Shiremanstown, Cumberland County, who allegedly injected clients with liquid steroids in the office of their gym, Kinetics, in Lemoyne, Cumberland County. That gym is now closed.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Corbett's office identified the other central Pennsylvania defendants as Robert Greynolds, 28, of Middletown, Dauphin County; Joel France, 42, of Harrisburg; and Christopher Levan, 36, of Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Corbett said the Garonziks and Lazaro bought steroids on the Internet, with the Garonziks placing orders to Mexico, Panama and China, and Lazaro placing orders to China. The sellers were paid via wire transfer, he said.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Between 2004 and 2009, more than $170,000 was sent overseas by wire transfer, the grand jury said. The senders used fictitious names, authorities say, and kept the amounts being transferred small so they wouldn't rouse the suspicion of law enforcement.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Because the steroid orders sometimes cost up to $9,000, Corbett said Lazaro and Gillespie began to acquire powdered steroids in bulk.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]According to the grand jury, Lazaro learned on the Web how to make injectable steroids from the powder. Along with Gillespie, Lazaro allegedly began to manufacture steroids branded ''Pro Lab'' at Lazaro's home in Freemansburg.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Corbett said Koufalis and Sassaman got steroids from Lazaro and Gillespie and sold them to cover the expense of participating in bodybuilding competitions.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The grand jury report says some payments took place in the parking lot of Gold's Gym on Lehigh Street in Salisbury.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Gold's Gym manager Christian Arcario said he had no idea Koufalis was using steroids, as prosecutors allege.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]''You can usually spot a 'roid' from a mile away, and if he's the guy I remember, he wasn't obvious,'' Arcario said. ''If there was something going on outside, I'd like to know about it and I'd like to know who the seller was. We don't need that here.''[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]According to the grand jury, agents executed a search warrant at Lazaro's home in Freemansburg and seized more than nine pounds of bulk steroids, syringes, a 9mm firearm, nearly $8,900 and items used in the manufacture of steroids such as filters, oils and alcohols.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Altogether, Corbett said, his agents seized more than 700 bottles of steroids, 1,337 pills containing steroids, nine pounds of bulk steroids, $28,000 and four other firearms.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The defendants were arraigned in Harrisburg by District Judge Michael J. Smith and released on $25,000 unsecured bail each.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]john.micek@mcall.com[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]717 783-7305[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Copyright 2009, The Morning Call[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]...[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=-1]Allentown Morning Call[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Staring into the camera, his muscles rippling in bright light, George Koufalis boasts he's been steroid-free for a year.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]''I don't have the hardness or the leanness or the veins,'' Koufalis says in a clip posted on YouTube three months ago. ''But I feel good overall.''[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Turns out there might have been a reason Koufalis was substance-free.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]An August 2008 search of his home on Greens Drive in Wescosville turned up 89 bottles of steroids, 900 pills containing steroids, four guns, more than $12,000 in cash and boxes of empty syringes, according to court documents filed by agents from the state Bureau of Narcotics Investigations.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]And on Tuesday, Attorney General Tom Corbett charged Koufalis and nine other people -- including four others from the Lehigh Valley -- in connection with an alleged steroid manufacturing and distribution scheme in Lehigh, Northampton, Dauphin and Cumberland counties.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The state's top cop dubbed the probe ''Operation Roid Runner'' and said its participants brought more than $170,000 worth of steroids from China, Panama and Mexico into Pennsylvania.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]''We need to take those who distribute this poison off our streets,'' Corbett said at a news conference announcing the arrests.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]In addition to Koufalis, 34, now of 2158 Woodridge Drive, Lower Macungie Township, those charged locally are: John Sassaman, 51, of 1803 Stratford Court, Salisbury Township; Chad Gillespie, 33, of 740 Fourth St., Catasauqua; Marcus Lazaro, 29, of 123 Somerset St., Freemansburg; and Christopher Niemczyk, 31, of 1013 Old Course Lane, Williams Township.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The defendants face an array of drug charges. If convicted and sentenced to the maximum, they would face decades in jail and tens of thousands of dollars in fines.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]On the Web, Koufalis and Niemczyk call themselves competitive bodybuilders. On bodybuilding.com, Koufalis lists his accomplishment as including Mr. Lehigh Valley 2005 and Mr. Pennsylvania 2005.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Sassaman was arrested previously, in 1987 at his former apartment on Levan Street in Allentown. City police and federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents accused him then of possessing a pound of cocaine.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]His case was among the first in which police were permitted by law to seize a criminal's possessions, if they were related to his crimes. In Sassaman's case, police took his Corvette before he was sentenced to 11/2 to five years in prison.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Evidence and testimony about the alleged illegal steroid activity was presented to a statewide grand jury, which recommended the charges, Corbett's office said.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]According to the grand jury, five other people obtained and sold steroids in Dauphin and Cumberland counties.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]They included two personal trainers, Stacy, 38, and Eric Garonzik, 39, former spouses from Shiremanstown, Cumberland County, who allegedly injected clients with liquid steroids in the office of their gym, Kinetics, in Lemoyne, Cumberland County. That gym is now closed.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Corbett's office identified the other central Pennsylvania defendants as Robert Greynolds, 28, of Middletown, Dauphin County; Joel France, 42, of Harrisburg; and Christopher Levan, 36, of Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Corbett said the Garonziks and Lazaro bought steroids on the Internet, with the Garonziks placing orders to Mexico, Panama and China, and Lazaro placing orders to China. The sellers were paid via wire transfer, he said.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Between 2004 and 2009, more than $170,000 was sent overseas by wire transfer, the grand jury said. The senders used fictitious names, authorities say, and kept the amounts being transferred small so they wouldn't rouse the suspicion of law enforcement.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Because the steroid orders sometimes cost up to $9,000, Corbett said Lazaro and Gillespie began to acquire powdered steroids in bulk.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]According to the grand jury, Lazaro learned on the Web how to make injectable steroids from the powder. Along with Gillespie, Lazaro allegedly began to manufacture steroids branded ''Pro Lab'' at Lazaro's home in Freemansburg.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Corbett said Koufalis and Sassaman got steroids from Lazaro and Gillespie and sold them to cover the expense of participating in bodybuilding competitions.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The grand jury report says some payments took place in the parking lot of Gold's Gym on Lehigh Street in Salisbury.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Gold's Gym manager Christian Arcario said he had no idea Koufalis was using steroids, as prosecutors allege.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]''You can usually spot a 'roid' from a mile away, and if he's the guy I remember, he wasn't obvious,'' Arcario said. ''If there was something going on outside, I'd like to know about it and I'd like to know who the seller was. We don't need that here.''[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]According to the grand jury, agents executed a search warrant at Lazaro's home in Freemansburg and seized more than nine pounds of bulk steroids, syringes, a 9mm firearm, nearly $8,900 and items used in the manufacture of steroids such as filters, oils and alcohols.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Altogether, Corbett said, his agents seized more than 700 bottles of steroids, 1,337 pills containing steroids, nine pounds of bulk steroids, $28,000 and four other firearms.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The defendants were arraigned in Harrisburg by District Judge Michael J. Smith and released on $25,000 unsecured bail each.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]john.micek@mcall.com[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]717 783-7305[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Copyright 2009, The Morning Call[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]...[/SIZE]
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