Undercover steroid sting snares pro bodybuilder
If you're thinking about stealing your doc's Rx Pad, think again...
The following was posted by Basskiller @ WCBB.
Undercover steroid sting snares pro bodybuilder
By CAROLYN SALAZAR
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?...N3ZxZWVFRXl5Mg==
PARAMUS - A professional bodybuilder who competes in national events stole a doctor's pad, wrote his own prescriptions and then stashed thousands of dollars' worth of stolen steroids in his Emerson home, authorities said Monday.
Undercover detectives posing as pharmacists arrested Robert "Bobby" Waananen, 28, on Saturday after he walked into a drugstore to pick up a prescription for Xanax that he apparently had written for himself using a bogus doctor's name, Police Chief Fred Corrubia said.
Waananen had picked up steroids at the pharmacy several times before, Corrubia said.
"We think he was getting the steroids for himself," Corrubia said Monday. "But he could have been selling some of it."
The arrest comes amid steroid scandals that have rocked baseball, tarnishing the reputations of superstars Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, among others. One of the world's best-known bodybuilders, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, once a user himself, has called on the sport of bodybuilding to crack down on steroid use.
Waananen has ranked in the Top 5 three times, and once in the Top 10, in the National Physique Committee's Junior National Championship. At 5-foot-8 and about 195 pounds, he competed in the light-heavyweight division.
Corrubia said police were tipped off by pharmacists who grew suspicious about a prescription submitted by Waananen. The pharmacists tried to contact the doctors listed on the form, only to discover that they didn't exist, Corrubia said.
Lt. Kevin Smith and Patrolman Dean Avagnano, wearing white lab coats, set up the undercover operation at Paramus Pharmacy on East Ridgewood Avenue after Waananen ordered a prescription there, Corrubia said. The prescriptions were written on a pad reported stolen last month from the office of an Englewood orthopedic surgeon.
Smith said Waananen had access to the pads because he had worked at another doctor's office in Englewood.
Police think he ordered and picked up phony prescriptions at about 10 pharmacies.
Following Waananen's arrest, police found valium, steroids and hypodermic needles at his home, Corrubia said.
Waananen was charged with possession of steroids, possession of stolen property and prescription fraud. He was taken to Bergen County Jail, where he posted $10,000 bail.
"This is one competition where he is the loser," Corrubia said.
Steroid use reportedly has been rampant in bodybuilding competitions, during which the athletes generally are not tested. The recent steroid scandals have prompted federal officials and well-known athletes to put more pressure on national organizations to tighten the rules.
A woman at the National Physique Committee's office in Pennsylvania said the committee's president, Jim Manion, was out of town and could not be reached for comment.
NPC's New Jersey district chairman, John Kemper, said the organization is "obviously against steroid use" and is considering reinstituting a random steroid testing program to ensure that its athletes are not juicing up for national competitions.
"We will probably discuss that at our annual meeting," Kemper said.
Waananen has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached for comment on Monday.
Further charges could follow if Waananen went to other pharmacies to fill out phony prescriptions, Corrubia said.
