Actor Scott Siegel was the target of an investigation into the trafficking of illegal anabolic steroids by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Westchester County Drug Enforcement Task Force. Siegel discovered an unmarked DEA car in the parking lot of his parents’ townhome in the Lake Isle gated community in Eastchester, New York on February 18, 2009. Siegel walked around the DEA vehicle and looked in all four windows and the front windshield, all of which were tinted, and told the four undercover agents inside, “Nice fucking car.” Siegel then drove away. After realizing their surveillance was blown, it appears that the DEA called backup including officers from the Eastchester Police Department and the Tuckahoe Police Department. Law enforcement officers approached Siegel upon his return to the Lake Isle Townhouse. Siegel fled in his car and “intentionally” hit several vehicles belonging to local and federal law enforcement agencies before being arrested according to court documents.
Law enforcement agents obtained search warrants the next day for the Lake Isle Townhouse and Siegel’s residence and seized significant quantities of anabolic steroids and cash according to the criminal complaint (“Scott Siegel, The Wrestler Actor, Arrested On Steroid Charges,” February 20).
Lake Isle Townhouse
- approximately 1,500 bottles, which appear, based on the labeling and packaging for the bottles, to be predominantly anabolic steroids; and
- apporximately $30,000 to $70,000 in cash.
Siegel Residence
- approximately $70,000 in cash; and
- packaging materials which are consistent with packaging materials for steroids.
Scott Siegel played a steroid dealer in the film “The Wrestler” after being hand-picked for the role when Mickey Rourke and “The Wrestler” director Darren Aronofsky discovered Siegel at a Miami night club. Mickey Rourke told Jimmy Kimmel that he was impressed by Siegel’s appearance on the January14, 2009 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. “You’re the only dude that’s ever stolen a scene from me,” Rourke said he told Siegel.
John P. Gilbride, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York Field Division, commented on Scott Siegel’s role in “The Wrestler” as art imitating life during a press conference announcing charges against Siegel of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute anabolic steroids as well as assaulting federal officers. Gilbride re-affirmed the DEA’s commitment to the war on steroids as comparable to that of cocaine and heroin distribution (“New Rochelle Man Charged with Possession of Steroids and Assault on Federal Authorities,” February 20).
They say when you watch a movie, the characters come to life. The role the defendant played in the movie The Wrestler was the role he played in daily life. Law enforcement is committed to identifying those responsible for any drug distribution, be it cocaine, heroin or steroids.
Scott Siegel escalated the seriousness of his case with the decision to recklessly lead law enforcment on a car chase. Siegel faces up to 20 years in prison solely from his actions on February 18, 2009 involving the “assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating, and interfering with officers and employees of an agency of the United States Government while engaged in and on account of the performance of official duties.”
Siegel only faced up to 5 years in prison involving the “distributing and possessing with intent to distribute anabolic steroids” which was the subject of the DEA task force investigation steroid trafficking.
Scott Siegel was imprisoned for four year from 1999-2003 resulting from an arrest involving the distributing MDMA, ketamine, and anabolic steroids according to published reports.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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