Pro wrestling officials meet with NY prosecutor probing steroids
ALBANY, N.Y. - Officials from World Wrestling Entertainment met this week with New York prosecutors investigating illegal steroid sales.
The meeting Tuesday came a day after a former pro wrestler was found dead at his Florida home, but a WWE official said it had been scheduled well before the death.
An autopsy on Brian "Crush" Adams, 44, failed to show a specific cause of death. The Hillsborough County medical examiner's office said Tuesday it expects a more complete report in six to eight seeks from tissue and toxicology tests on Adams, who wasn't breathing when his wife found him unconscious in their Tampa home Monday morning.
World Wrestling Entertainment Vice President Jennifer McIntosh said Tuesday's meeting had nothing to do with Adams, that he had not been a wrestler for the sports entertainment company since 2001 and WWE has no knowledge of any involvement by Adams with Signature Pharmacy of Orlando, Fla. Signature is at the center of Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares' investigation into illegal steroid sales in upstate New York.
"WWE was invited to meet with representatives of the investigation being directed by District Attorney Soares prior to Mr. Adams' death, as have representatives of the NFL, NBA, and other entities," McIntosh said in a prepared statement.
McIntosh declined to comment on what was discussed.
Calls to Soares' office were not immediately returned Thursday.
Adams' death came less than two months after pro wrestler Chris Benoit killed his wife and son before hanging himself on the cable of a weight machine in his Georgia home. Prescription anabolic steroids were found in the family's home, raising questions about whether the drugs played a role in the killings.
Benoit had been a client of Signature Pharmacy, Soares' office has confirmed.
Adams was also a Signature client, according to a law enforcement official who did not want to be named.
Nine people, including three current or former physicians, have pleaded guilty in Soares' multistate investigation, most affiliated with Internet and phone-order companies that filled orders for anabolic steroids and growth hormones through Signature and sent drugs to customers around the country, including Albany County.
Signature's owners have pleaded not guilty.
In New York, it is illegal for a doctor to prescribe drugs without examining the patient in person, and illegal for a pharmacy to dispense prescription drugs without a valid prescription.
National Football League officials met with Soares and other investigators in March. An NFL spokesman said they had asked the prosecutors' office for any information relevant to the league.
Soares has said repeatedly he's targeting distributors supplying illicit drugs and physicians writing prescriptions for patients they've never seen, not customers.
Credit: By MICHAEL VIRTANEN Associated Press Writer and www.gerweck.net
