Two from Ukraine plead guilty to charges of selling steroids
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The 2008 search of a Western Pennsylvania man's illegal steroid lab led to an international probe that culminated in the guilty pleas Wednesday of two Ukrainians who had boasted to an undercover agent of millions of dollars of sales of muscle-building drugs.
Oleksandr Skochyk, 35 -- who, authorities said, went by the online name Musclebear -- led the Kiev-based enterprise, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Dillon, who is prosecuting the cases. A relative, Yeveniy Suray, 29, was his top lieutenant, and from August 2008 through March 2010 they moved 40,000 units of anabolic steroids and synthetic testosterone to Americans, Mr. Dillon said.
The men's attorneys said they admitted to selling the drugs but denied being ringleaders of any conspiracy.
Mr. Dillon said the probe began when someone informed on Paul G. Matthews, a Pittsburgh-area man who ran Matthews Training Concepts and whose precise address has not been revealed in court.
A shipment of Chinese steroids, addressed to him, was intercepted at Los Angeles International Airport, and a search of his house revealed a steroid packaging lab. He was sentenced in January to 15 months in prison.
Court records revealed that he bought some of the raw material through the website www.musclebear.com . A multi-agency investigation was launched involving the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Agency, Food and Drug Administration and the Internal Revenue Service.
Anabolic steroids are illegal without a prescription, and they are suspected of causing liver damage and other physical side effects.
Agents got a warrant for the Musclebear website's email addresses, which gave them access to emails from Kiev to steroid dealers in Massachusetts, Oregon and Texas.
FDA undercover agent Sean Grillo contacted "Musclebear" by email and started buying steroids from him, sometimes through Iowa bodybuilder Ronald J. Sales, who was sentenced in September to 20 months in prison. "Musclebear" also had Mr. Grillo go to an online bookseller, with instructions that if he bought certain "books," steroids would arrive instead.
Mr. Grillo then told "Musclebear" that he and his brother could help the Ukrainians set up a new website that could take credit card orders, eliminating the middlemen. The Ukrainians were intrigued.
In conversations that followed, "Musclebear" revealed that he'd been in the steroid business for 15 years, and got $100,000 to $200,000 a month in payments through Western Union, Mr. Dillon recounted. "Musclebear" said he used hundreds of fake names and bank accounts in Cyprus, Macau, Austria and Lithuania, and he bought drugs from China, Thailand and his own country. He said he had eight relatives, a police officer, a customs agent and a Western Union employee on the payroll.
Mr. Grillo and a DEA agent agreed to meet with the Ukrainians in Cyprus to complete the website arrangements. Mr. Skochyk and Mr. Suray showed up at a hotel in Nicosia, bragged for two hours and were arrested.
"The defendants were puffing" up their roles, said attorney William C. Kaczynski, who represents Mr. Suray. He and attorney Chris Rand Eyster, who represents Mr. Skochyk, said their clients weren't big wheels, and weren't "Musclebear."
The investigation showed that in three months in early 2009 alone, the Ukrainians pulled in $433,228 in payments from U.S. clients.
The two pleaded guilty to conspiring to import and sell illegal steroids, and to money laundering. They will be sentenced June 21 and likely face prison terms of three to five years. U.S. District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose will determine whether they played leadership roles, which will have a big impact on their sentences.
First Published February 9, 2012 12:00 am
