Feds raid home of Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jason Grimsley

[yeahright]

Feds raid D-Back hurler Grimsley in HGH probe

By T.J. QUINN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

The undetectable drug has been detected.

Federal agents raided the home of Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jason Grimsley yesterday, seeking evidence that could identify him as a distributor of human growth hormone - which is illegal but undetectable in urine tests - and other performance-enhancing drugs.

Baseball officials refused to comment last night, but the fallout from the raid will probably be felt for months: when Grimsley was first confronted by agents in April, according to documents, he named names.

Grimsley has not been charged, and sources did not say what was taken from his house. But according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by the Daily News, IRS agents had already seized human growth hormone from Grimsley in a "low key" search of his home April 19, and he had admitted using HGH, amphetamines and anabolic steroids.

The affidavit said agents were looking for evidence of "Grimsley's and other Major League players' illegal receipt of prescription drugs, anabolic steroids, human growth hormone and amphetamines, the illegal distribution of such drugs, and the money laundering of the proceeds of said transactions."

The April visit and yesterday's raid were led by IRS special agent Jeff Novitzky, the same agent who pursued the BALCO case, which led to the prosecution of five men and the embarrassment of more than a dozen MLB, NFL and track and field athletes.

According to the affidavit, Grimsley was first nailed by agents when he received a package containing $3,200 worth of HGH in the mail April 19 at his Scottsdale, Ariz., home. Grimsley, entertaining guests at the time, agreed to cooperate and showed agents the HGH, and admitted taking the steroid Deca-Durabolin and Clenbuterol, a stimulant and weight-loss drug, in the past, as well as amphetamines. He also named several current and former players as having used performance-enhancing drugs (the names were redacted from the affidavit), and described how he and other players had received HGH from a Florida physician and had even received drugs from an equipment salesmen. Another player had received amphetamines from a Colorado physician, the affidavit said.

Underscoring the most obvious gap in baseball's drug policy, Grimsley admitted to Novitzky that he started using HGH exclusively once baseball began testing for steroids, according to the affidavit.

Grimsley also said he was told that he tested positive in 2003 during baseball's supposedly anonymous "survey" testing program. Grimsley's agent, Joe Bick, said he had spoken to Grimsley but was not prepared to comment. Grimsley's attorney could not be reached, and Major League Baseball spokesman Rich Levin said his office had only recently become aware of the raid and had no comment.

Yesterday's raid, which took place before the Diamondbacks' home game against Philadelphia, could lead to another massive doping scandal in baseball, just as attention to Barry Bonds' drug-aided pursuit of Babe Ruth fades into memory and an investigation by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell continues into baseball's steroid past.

As The News has reported since 2002, HGH has been popular in clubhouses for years as a way to build muscle, improve energy and stamina and recover from injury. Baseball bans HGH but does not test for it because the only available testing method is an unreliable blood test. But under baseball's drug policy, a player can be punished if MLB can show he acquired or used performance-enhancing drugs. A first offense brings a 50-game suspension, a second offense 100 games, and the third a potential lifetime ban.

Grimsley, a 15-year veteran who pitched for the Yankees' championship teams in 1999 and 2000, is 1-2 with a 4.88 ERA this season.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/424308p-358021c.html

 

[UnicronSpawn]

I dont think anyone should be incarcerated for merely possesing ANY drug. But I have a particular beef with the fact that when the people whom the anti AAS/GH laws were designed to pertain too routinely get special treatment. Why should I or one of my buddies have to be incarcerated when none of us even plays a pro or olympic sport, but the guys the laws were meant to stop from cheating just get a suspension from their sport? And when Italy actually started treating sports "doper's" like everyone allready treats the cosmetic users the entire WADA pratically craps their pants and goes "whoa, whoa, whoa. We dont want to make this a criminal issue." Oh, yeah? Could have fooled me! Try telling that to my cosmetic user friends who are serving excessive sentences for mere possesion of drugs that they knew how to use corrctly and werent using to cheat ANYBODY out of ANYTHING.
What could be more hypocritical?

If they dont want to put athletes in jail they shouldnt incarcerate cosmetic users either. Wich would be better for everyone anyway. Safer drugs would be available, and there would then be a new market for doctors specializing in performance enhancement, and monitoring athletes so we'd have a whole league full of happy healthy super athletes. More level of a playing field than now, and more entertaining for fans. DUH.

 

[ArnoldIsMyIdol]

What a stupid waste of time and taxpayer $$$

 

[Viperspit]

According to the affidavit, Grimsley was first nailed by agents when he received a package containing $3,200 worth of HGH in the mail April 19 at his Scottsdale, Ariz., home. Grimsley, entertaining guests at the time, agreed to cooperate and showed agents the HGH, and admitted taking the steroid Deca-Durabolin and Clenbuterol, a stimulant and weight-loss drug, in the past, as well as amphetamines. He also named several current and former players as having used performance-enhancing drugs (the names were redacted from the affidavit), and described how he and other players had received HGH from a Florida physician and had even received drugs from an equipment salesmen. Another player had received amphetamines from a Colorado physician, the affidavit said.


Tony would have him whacked for this

 

[UHCougar05]

Tony would have him whacked for this

Nobody likes a rat, that's for sure. :nutkick: I'll bet they threatened him with some serious time and that's why he named people. Glad to see our tax dollars at work trying to get rid of all of these "bad apples"

 

[CDB]

To think, all those users of performance enhancing drugs in baseball and yet there's still only one Barry Bonds.

 

[yeahright]

My major concern isn't what happens to this bozo, it's the hysteria that will flow outwards from yet another sports scandal.

 

[bigSMokey]

What a stupid waste of time and taxpayer $$$

We are (supposedly) under constant threat from turrorists with no compassionativity and the feds are going after pitchers who use steroids. Unbelievable. The devil doesn't live in Iran.

 

[bigSMokey]

My major concern isn't what happens to this bozo, it's the hysteria that will flow outwards from yet another sports scandal.

Same here... get ready for the hype that preceeds the 3rd round of AAS bans.

 

[JonesersRX7]

Heard this on KFNN driving in to work today....

D-Back admits steroid use

 

[Beau]

New York Daily News - Sports - Feds raid D-Back hurler[/url]

Wow - his ERA is a worse offense than is the HGH.

 

[Hbs6]

To think, all those users of performance enhancing drugs in baseball and yet there's still only one Barry Bonds.

GOOD GOD, finally someone who understands what I mean when I try and explain that concept to ppl. I tell them all the time, juice me up to be bigger and stronger then barry, but I would strike out every, damn, time.

 

[rampage jackson]

....pitchers on the juice....someone round up CC Sabatiha for a test. LOL

 

[UnicronSpawn]

My major concern isn't what happens to this bozo, it's the hysteria that will flow outwards from yet another sports scandal.

That is exactly what we need more worry about. I can hear it now:

-Dumb legislator-------------

"In light of new performance enhancing drug scandals, we the legislators decree that all sports supplements be scheduled as controlled substances by penaltly of castration for possesion. Since those supplements clearly are exactly the same as steroids and HGH.......clearly."

$3'200???? By the appraisal standards I've seen by LE in the past, Id say that equates to about 3 kits o Jino's. 100IU's each.

What a little snitch. It sounds like he was ready to reveal names at the drop of a hat. He shouldnt have told them anything. He should have just said: "I choose not to speak to you until I speak with a lawyer."
He cracked when they played good cop/bad cop and got him to give names by threatening him w/ how much trouble he was going to be in.

Now who knows what horrific legislation is in store for the rest of us, who or NOT making millions of dollars a year by cheating at sports, and who WONT get pardoned for being a celebrity. :frustrate

 

[EEmain]

Hey at least he is good for something! It was him going to Huston that brought Schilling to Philly :woohoo:

 

[jmh80]

From my perspective, the wave of hysteria has not ebbed since this crap seemed to arise a few years ago.

There is still alot of heat on the anabolics seen. I doubt this will make much of a ripple - save for the retarded general public.

 

[yeahright]

New York Times
June 8, 2006
A New Front in Baseball's Drug War
By JACK CURRY

Jason Grimsley, a journeyman pitcher with the Arizona Diamondbacks, took only two hours to disclose what he surely hoped would remain a secret, and what other major leaguers also wanted to keep private. About two months ago, according to federal investigators, Grimsley revealed that he had used performance-enhancing substances for several years and that other players did, too.

When three investigators arrived on Grimsley's doorstep April 19 with the suspicion that he had just received a shipment of human growth hormone, it did not take long before he admitted that he had used anabolic steroids, amphetamines and human growth hormone, according to documents filed in the United States District Court of Arizona.

Thirteen federal agents searched Grimsley's home in Scottsdale, Ariz., for six hours Tuesday. Mark Lessler, an agent with the Internal Revenue Service, would not divulge what was uncovered. The agents are investigating Grimsley for illegal possession of drugs, illegal distribution of drugs and money laundering of the profits.

During Grimsley's interview with agents, he admitted to receiving and using performance-enhancing substances 10 to 12 times, according to the court papers. Grimsley also named other players who were users, but those names were blacked out in the documents.

Because Major League Baseball has urine tests to detect steroids and amphetamines, Grimsley kept using only human growth hormone, according to the documents. The day that Grimsley had two kits of growth hormone delivered to his home in April at a cost of $3,200, federal investigators rang his doorbell and eventually interviewed him at another location.

Grimsley's disclosures seemed to validate the speculation that major leaguers have continued to use performance-enhancing substances even with harsher drug testing in place this season. Grimsley, a 38-year-old former Yankee who was in his 15th major league season, asked for his release from the Diamondbacks yesterday, and they obliged him.

"I guess I wouldn't have been as shocked if he wasn't on our team for a period of time, because it's somebody you know," Yankees Manager Joe Torre said. "It's too bad. I guess with these enhancing drugs, they continued to find things out. Getting to the bottom of it is the most important thing."

Joe Bick, who has represented Grimsley for 20 years, said that he figured Grimsley would retire.

"I would be surprised if he played again," Bick said. "Obviously, it's been very difficult for Jason and his family."

In an affidavit for a search warrant, Jeff Novitzky, an I.R.S. agent, told Edward C. Voss, a federal judge, that he wanted to search Grimsley's house for "any and all records showing contact or relationship with any and all amateur or professional athletes, athletic coaches or athletic trainers" about the use or purchase of illicit drugs.

Before Novitzky sought the warrant, he wrote that Grimsley had initially cooperated with investigators. Novitzky described how he and two investigators told Grimsley they knew he had just received growth hormone in the mail and offered him the chance to retrieve it and go to another location for questioning. Grimsley, who had guests and was given the chance to avoid the awkwardness of a full-scale search, agreed.

The affidavit details what Grimsley told investigators about drug use in clubhouses, including his description of coffee pots labeled "leaded" and "unleaded" to indicate which ones were laced with amphetamines. He also said that amphetamines were called "greenies" or "beans" and were widely used because "they work." According to the document, he said: "Everybody had greenies. That's like aspirin."

Grimsley told investigators that "Latin players" had boxes of drugs and were major sources of amphetamines. He also said that players from teams based in California could easily buy drugs in Mexico and sell them to players from other cities. Grimsley added that he failed a drug test in 2003, before baseball had punishments in place. But about one week after being interviewed, Grimsley retained a lawyer and said he would no longer cooperate.

Novitzky was also the lead agent in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative case, which involved the illegal distribution of steroids and human growth hormone to dozens of athletes. Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants and the Yankees' Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield were among those players who testified in the case.

Grimsley made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1989 and also pitched for six other teams. He has a career record of 42-58 with a 4.77 earned run average.

The case underscores the reality that baseball's drug policy, like those in other professional sports leagues, does not have a test for human growth hormone. The hormone is produced by the body's anterior pituitary gland and plays a major role in growth and metabolism. If taken in excess of what the body normally makes, it can increase bone and lean muscle mass and decrease fat, which translates into increased strength. But there are side effects to the use of the synthetic version, which is produced using recombinant DNA technology. Long-term or excessive use can cause sore joints, swollen tissue and carpal tunnel syndrome. Its use can also result in the thickening of bones, particularly in the jaw, hands and feet, and an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.

"There are very serious questions about it that we don't know," said Dr. Donald H. Catlin, director of the Olympic Analytical Laboratory at U.C.L.A. "When athletes take growth hormone, they're not going to keep a record of it or tell us how much they took. So any side effects are unknown."

World Anti-Doping Agency officials said a blood test detecting the use of manufactured human growth hormone, a test that they say is scientifically reliable and also defendable in court, was first used for the Athens Olympics in 2004. Only several hundred of the tests have been administered since because there is a limited supply of the antibodies needed for the test.

Major League Baseball has announced plans to finance a three-year, $500,000 project, with U.C.L.A., designed to develop a urine test for human growth hormone. Catlin, whose lab has been selected to handle the project, said that he had not yet received any funding. But Catlin said he was sure "it's close."

Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations and human resources, would not discuss the funding. But he spoke confidently about Catlin's being able to solve what Dr. Gary Green, who is also from U.C.L.A. and who is a consultant to baseball, called "the holy grail of drug testing."

When Catlin was asked about the difficulty of creating a urine test for human growth hormone, he called it a "tough project" and added, "That's why you do the research, in order to see if you can do it."

Dr. Gary I. Wadler, a New York University medical professor and steroid expert, criticized baseball officials for not pushing to use blood samples to test for human growth hormone. Baseball officials have cited privacy laws in not seeking blood tests. Wadler was not optimistic about Catlin's chances. "The likelihood of a urine test in the foreseeable future," Wadler said, "is close to zero."

Tyler Kepner and Juliet Macur contributed reporting for this article.

 

[UnicronSpawn]

What a waste of money.

 

[yeahright]

Posted on Wed, Jun. 07, 2006


BALCO steroid probe shift: athletes now targets

DAVID KRAVETS
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO - The search at the home of Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Jason Grimsley underscores a major shift in the government's ongoing steroid probe: professional athletes are now being targeted instead of just suppliers and chemists.

In the government's petition for Tuesday's search, Internal Revenue Service Agent Jeff Novitsky told a federal judge that investigators wanted to look in the right-hander's Scottsdale, Ariz. house for "any and all records showing contact or relationship with any and all amateur or professional athletes, athletic coaches or athletic trainers" regarding illicit drug use and purchases.

They also were searching for human growth hormone, amphetamines, steroids and records of his suppliers.

The investigation is being run by prosecutors and authorities in San Francisco, where five Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative defendants pleaded guilty to distributing or developing steroids, some of which were undetectable in drug tests.

U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan of San Francisco said the government's investigation will "diligently follow the evidence."

"Clearly," he added, "we're not done."

The Diamondbacks responded Wednesday by releasing Grimsley, who will get the rest of his $825,000 salary, his agent said.

Federal authorities said in court documents that Grimsley at one time cooperated in the investigation, and told authorities of other players suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs. Those names were blacked out of the record and authorities declined to say who they were.

Major League Baseball spokesman Rich Levin said the league was examining its response to the Grimsley affair and preparing for the possibility that other players might become targets of the investigation.

The league's goal, Levin said, is to rid the game of performance-enhancing drugs.

"It's a battle we continue to fight," he said. "We want to get them out of the game."

After the BALCO investigation, baseball toughened its testing program for performance-enhancing drugs and included testing for amphetamines for the first time this season.

The government's steroid probe has also strayed far from performance-enhancing drugs.

A federal grand jury in San Francisco is investigating whether San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds lied under oath about using the performance-enhancing drug known as "the clear" during his grand jury testimony that led to the indictment of four people connected to BALCO. A separate federal grand jury is probing who leaked Bonds' testimony from the BALCO investigation to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The search of Grimsley's house comes nearly two months after Illinois-based scientist Patrick Arnold, prominent in the field of sports nutritional supplements, pleaded guilty to supplying BALCO with the "the clear."

The BALCO probe has also netted guilty pleas from BALCO president Victor Conte, Bonds' personal trainer Greg Anderson, BALCO vice president James Valente and track coach Remi Korchemny.

---

Editors: David Kravets has been covering state and federal courts for more than a decade.

 

[UnicronSpawn]

 

[Achilles13]

GOOD GOD, finally someone who understands what I mean when I try and explain that concept to ppl. I tell them all the time, juice me up to be bigger and stronger then barry, but I would strike out every, damn, time.

The biggest point in my opinion. Another point is, do they all think that by ratting out other players, will get them out of guilt? This snitching on everyone is getting pathetic.

 

[JonesersRX7]

Wadler and Catlin.... biggest tools in the shed.....

 

[UHCougar05]

And now there's another twist, apparently, they were trying to leverage Grimsley to rat out Bonds for a federal case. FOX Sports - MLB - Report: Grimsley pressured to aid Bonds probe

 

[Spartan117]

And now there's another twist, apparently, they were trying to leverage Grimsley to rat out Bonds for a federal case. FOX Sports - MLB - Report: Grimsley pressured to aid Bonds probe

ESPN this morning immediately paired Bonds with Grimsley. The two did not even relly know each other. They did try to get him to rat on Bonds. Grimsley was quoted as saying players don't rat on other players...what a load! ESPN also said that there were talks about freezing players blood now and then testing it when an adequate test is available. That sounds like total BS.

 

[UnicronSpawn]

Theyve allready taken this drugs in sports hysteria way to far, and it doesnt look like they are ever going stop. They will never completely eliminate the "problem". Wich means they will keep exponentially wasting more and more taxpayer time and money indefinately until........what?. I wish theyd all just Sit down and shut up and watch the damn game.

 

[UnicronSpawn]

As I suspected, the appraisal was using the ultra high end ripoff price charged by US pharmacies.
Most GH users would pay less than $500 for that much GH AFTER FEE"S AND SHIPPING.

 

[UHCougar05]

As I suspected, the appraisal was using the ultra high end ripoff price charged by US pharmacies.
Most GH users would pay less than $500 for that much GH AFTER FEE"S AND SHIPPING.

Of course, no one in their right mind would pay $3200 for a few kits of Jin, that's insane. Then again, the average American has no idea, so the government can say the price is whatever they want and they won't think any different.

I could try to see things from the government's point of view, but I don't think that I would be comfortable with my head that far up my ass. Bunch of no good, useless, *******s. :frustrate

 

[UnicronSpawn]

I could try to see things from the government's point of view, but I don't think that I would be comfortable with my head that far up my ass. Bunch of no good, useless, *******s. :frustrate

:toofunny: Yeah, your neck would be pretty uncomfortable that way.
Reps for making me laugh.