Thursday, November 15, 2007
DELRAY BEACH — An officer fired from the Boca Raton Police Department for steroid use in 2003 was arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance.
Following the raid of the Linton Boulevard office, a Boca doctor - already facing six counts of the same charges - also was detained.
Anthony Forgione, 43, of Boca Raton was arrested and Dr. Gary Brandwein, who is being investigated for supplying steroids and other drugs to professional wrestlers including the late Chris Benoit, is being questioned as part of "Operation Which Doctor," a nationwide crackdown on anti-aging clinics that police say are prescription mills for steroids.
The probe, conducted by the district attorney's office in Albany, N.Y., has included raids of Palm Beach ************ in Jupiter and Signature Pharmacy in Orlando.
Albany investigators will seek to extradite Forgione to New York in court this morning before executing a search warrant on his Boca Raton home.
The house is about 11/2 miles from the two-story office complex at 900 Linton Blvd. where Forgione ran the "Wellness Referral Service" for several months.
Forgione also runs Infinity Longevity, an anti-aging clinic in Boca Raton that through Brandwein provided heavyweight boxer Jameel McCline of Wellington with more than $12,000 worth of steroids, human growth hormone and related drugs over a 21-month period, according to a source close to that investigation.
Delray police arrived at the office complex intending to arrest Forgione, but were surprised to find Brandwein there.
"It's kind of ironic that Dr. Gary Brandwein was in his office, where it appears they were selling steroids out of," New York narcotics investigator Mark Haskins said. "We're still looking into that. I can't tell you what he was doing there."
Brandwein, an osteopathic physician, pleaded not guilty to the six earlier charges. According to New York's Daily News, Brandwein prescribed drugs to three pro wrestlers who have died in the past two years: Eddie Guerrero, Brian Adams and Benoit, who allegedly murdered his wife and 7-year-old son before committing suicide in June.
Police said Wednesday they found a loaded handgun in Forgione's office, which included computers and a couch but no exam rooms or instruments commonly found in clinics.
Witnesses said police swarmed the office and quickly handcuffed Forgione.
Attention then turned toward securing Forgione's house, where neighbors said they suspected he was operating a business.
Liza McMillan, who lives across the street, said she found it odd that visitors quickly left even though some waited up to two hours for him to come home. She said Forgione told her he sold "herbal steroids."
"It was weird, why there'd be so many different people all the time, for people that aren't really sociable at all," McMillan said of Forgione and his wife, Linda.
Boca police fired Anthony Forgione in April 2003 after he admitted to city officials he had a nearly decade-old steroid habit.
As neighbors watched undercover officers secure his house Wednesday night, they said the nature of the charges didn't surprise them because they knew steroids led to his departure from the police department and that he was an avid weight-lifter with a muscular build.
"No shirt, never," McMillan said. "He's a man who's in love with himself."
This is from the Palm Beach Post. I work in the building where the guy was busted; our office was interogated as well. Thankfully I didn't do business with the guy! what a huge mess it turned into yesterday...
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Originally Posted by pewntang
