Wednesday 31, Oct 2007
Officer cleared in steroids probe - what?
Posted Byi steroids
ok so because he’s on the Police force, he’s cleared of steroids use ? LOL! why not just test the damn guy. I don’t see how that’s fair; police is going to buy steroids to keep people safe , but they get off scott free??? Doesn’t seem fair, he clearly got the SAME Prescription for steroid use as everyone else, but his is LEGAL???!!
So can someone explain what the difference here is???
A veteran city narcotics detective implicated in a nationwide steroids probe has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Detective Richard Gould, 42, was legally exonerated following an investigation by a special prosecutor assigned to the case.
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“He’s just glad this is over,” said Gould’s attorney, Cheryl Coleman.
Gould, who remains on desk duty, still faces internal disciplinary charges following a departmental investigation, said Police Chief James W. Tuffey.
But he’s no longer facing the prospect of criminal charges for obtaining performance-enhancing drugs — including human growth hormone — at his Albany home.
Gould, a 17-year veteran of the Albany Police Department, received the drugs from Signature Compounding Pharmacy in Orlando, which was raided by investigators for Albany County District Attorney David Soares on Feb. 27.
The raid was the climax of a wide-ranging probe into Internet sales of steroids delivered to recipients ranging from Gould to professional baseball and NFL players.
Coleman never denied that the detective obtained anabolic steroids. She said Gould needed the drugs for home therapy because of a medical condition. Coleman has not publicly disclosed the nature of the condition.
Since June, the attorney has insisted Gould did not break any laws. The special prosecutor, Albany attorney Paul F. Edwards, agreed.
“After careful examination of all available evidence, I have concluded that no criminal charge is appropriate,” he stated in a letter to Coleman dated Oct. 24. “Accordingly, I am closing my file.”
Edwards could not be reached Tuesday. Coleman on Tuesday said the matter “never should have gotten this far.”
Heather Orth, a spokeswoman for Soares, declined to comment.
Gould, an Albany High School graduate and one-time NFL offensive line prospect, joined the department in 1990. Known to some by the nickname “RoboCop,” he’s made hundreds of arrests as one of the city’s better-known narcotics officers.
The Times Union first reported in February that a city detective was caught up in the steroids probe, but did not identify him because there were no allegations of wrongdoing at the time.
Investigators learned of Gould’s involvement after they searched the Manhattan home office of a doctor who wrote prescriptions for a Texas wellness clinic. Many months later, after they sifted through mounds of records, they found information signaling Gould’s orders for steroids.
Gould received 300 syringes — as well as somatropin, winstrol and testosterone — at his home, according to court papers documenting a Dec. 15, 2005, prescription.
Court papers show the prescription came from Cellular Nucleonic Advantage, a so-called wellness clinic outside Houston. Its operators have since shut down their business and have since pleaded guilty to felony charges. Gould received three shipments from the Orlando pharmacy between December 2005 and last August, court papers showed. Gould’s link to the steroids investigation surfaced publicly in June, adding a new chapter to already existing tensions between Albany’s top prosecutor and its police chief.
Posted in Steroids and Anabolic Steroids
