Signature Pharmacy has filed a lawsuit against District Attorney David Soares and the Albany County District Attorney’s Office over its steroid investigation entitled “Operation Which Doctor.” The Signature Pharmacy steroid scandal implicated numerous professional athletes and entertainers including top pro bodybuilders. Several months later, an Albany County judge dismissed the criminal indictments against the principals at Signature Pharmacy due to the incompetence of prosecutor David Soares.
Signature Pharmacy and its owners, Stan and Naomi Loomis, allege that David Soares illegally operated outside his jurisdiction in the steroid investigation and prosecuted them without probable cause; Signature Pharmacy further alleges that David Soares is a political opportunist who flew in an Albany Times-Union reporter and tipped off local media to cover an unnecessary steroid raid that was clearly designed as a photo op to promote Soares’ celebrity during an election year (“Legal muscle for pharmacy suing Albany DA and probers,” October 8).
The operators of Signature Compounding Pharmacy, the primary targets of an Albany steroid investigation before a judge tossed out their indictment last month, have filed a lawsuit alleging that Albany County District Attorney David Soares and other law-enforcement officials violated their civil rights during the two-year, multistate probe that linked a number of athletes to performance-enhancing drugs.
The lawsuit filed Friday in Florida’s Orange County Circuit Court claims that law-enforcement officials lied to obtain the indictment as well as a wiretap and search warrants. The defendants include Soares, Albany prosecutor Christopher Baynes, New York State Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement investigator Mark Haskins and the City of Orlando.
The lawsuit said that a reporter from the Albany Times Union accompanied Soares to Florida for the February 2007 raid at Signature’s Orlando locations and that other media outlets were notified prior to the raid. The plaintiffs accuse Soares, who is currently campaigning for reelection, of pursuing the case for “national publicity and professional accolades.” It also claims he defamed the defendants by comparing their business to the Mafia and crack dealers.
“The primary goal of the raids of Signature’s pharmacy were to garner publicity for the individual defendants,” the suit said.
David Soares re-election campaign appears doomed as his grand anti-steroid crusade has blown up in his face due to his incompetence; David Soares has been tarnished by charges of corruption for his role in the coverup of the Eliot Spitzer Troopergate scandal. Also, the Albany County Comptroller has reported “possible criminal” fiscal mismanagement and misuse of forfeiture funds by David Soares’ office.
Signature Pharmacy vs. David Soares et al (PDF)
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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