Steroid scandal hits in Bartlett
A Bartlett man is among the 120-plus people accused in Operation Raw Deal, dubbed by federal authorities as the largest crackdown on illegal steroids in the nation's history.
Federal Drug Enforcement Administration officials say Michael Guthrie, 25, ran an illegal Internet-based anabolic steroid distribution business.
Guthrie, of 1825 Rizzi Lane, was arrested Thursday at his townhouse by agents from the Chicago DEA office.
Agents seized miscellaneous steroids and steroid powders or mixtures, Chicago DEA spokeswoman Joanna Noltay said.
A grand jury has indicted Guthrie on conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and conspiracy to launder money charges. Convictions on those charges carry a combined maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines.
Guthrie was one of 13 people indicted by the U.S. attorney's office in the Southern District of California, which alleges the defendants sent steroids to people living in the district.
According to the indictment, Guthrie distributed anabolic steroids ordered from foreign countries to customers in the U.S. through Rugio Labs, the trafficking company he owned and operated.
Authorities say that from December 2006 to May, Guthrie ordered via e-mail about 6 kilograms of anabolic steroids from suppliers in China on behalf of Rugio Labs.
The suppliers sent enough raw steroid material to make more than 200,000 doses of finished anabolic steroids, authorities say, and Guthrie and Rugio Labs allegedly received $100,000 in proceeds.
Timothy Coughlin, assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, declined to say if Guthrie "assembled his product" at the Bartlett townhouse.
The indictment said Guthrie advertised Rugio Labs on various bodybuilding Web sites that promote illicit anabolic steroid use and provide information on how to place an order, how to avoid law enforcement detection and how to create underground labs.
Authorities say undercover DEA agents who monitored the sites noticed Guthrie sold a high volume of product. His company even received positive comments from buyers for having quality products and sending them in a timely manner, authorities assert.
Guthrie communicated with customers and suppliers through encrypted e-mail service accounts, the indictment reads. He would wire money to foreign suppliers, which would send the steroids to post office boxes he rented, officials say.
The DEA said 143 federal search warrants were issued during the 18-month investigation, many of them since Thursday, when the raid at Guthrie's home took place.
Residents living on Rizzi Lane, near Army Trail and Fair Oaks roads, said they observed several unmarked cars in the area that day and plainclothes officers walking in and out of the townhouse and searching a black Hummer.
One neighbor said she believes Guthrie lives with his wife and daughter and works as a hockey instructor.
According to the indictment, one way customers could pay Guthrie was to send cash through the mail to "REBELS HOCKEY" at a post office box he rented.
Guthrie appeared Thursday before Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez in U.S. District Court in Chicago and was released on his own recognizance, said Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.
Guthrie is scheduled to appear in federal court in San Diego next month.