(LAWFUEL) – Nora R. Dannehy, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that BRIAN W. JEFFERY, 40, of Bullhead City, Arizona, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 16 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for distributing anabolic steroids. JEFFERY pleaded guilty to the charge on May 5, 2008.
According to documents filed with the Court, in 2007, JEFFERY used the screen name “The Iron Bull” on www.getanabolics.com, an Internet forum on which members can post messages and ask for advice about a wide range of topics relating to weightlifting and body building. “The Iron Bull” advertised that he was a distributor of anabolic steroids for an underground steroid laboratory named Superior Labs. On two occasions, an FBI agent acting in an undercover capacity communicated via email with JEFFERY, placed orders for the anabolic steroids dianabol and testonogen, and subsequently received shipments of the steroids in the United States mail.
JEFFERY has admitted that he purchased raw steroid powder from suppliers in China and then converted the powder into steroids in oral and injectable form. From March through June 2007, JEFFERY sold at least 10,000 units of anabolic steroids.
JEFFERY has been incarcerated since his arrest on September 27, 2007.
This matter stems from Operation Phony Pharm, an investigation headed by the FBI’s Healthcare Fraud Unit in the District of Connecticut. Using several sophisticated investigative techniques, this initiative has targeted web sites and individuals who are selling Schedule II and III pharmaceuticals over the Internet without a doctor’s consultation or a legitimate legal written prescription. The investigation also sought to identify and close down underground laboratories in the U.S. that are making these drugs from raw materials obtained from outside the U.S.
This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Edward Chang.
