It is a common practice for people selling supplements and steroid product to target fitness enthusiasts. They represent the biggest percentage of their market. Today, unscrupulous businessmen use people from the gyms to help them run the business without being caught by the authorities. In the United Kingdom, three club members were sentenced to jail for participating in the illegal importation of anabolic steroids and human growth hormones. According to the report, they were recruited independently and were given the task of transferring money to China and other Asian countries. The operation is so organized that the principal is still unknown.

The Teesside Crown Court believes that the three were just used to carry the illegal activities of still un-named man. The three were members of a fitness gym in Darlington. In the Northern Echo report, the three pleaded guilty for transferring criminal property – knowing or suspecting that the money came from the sales of the products by the plot leaders. Under the UK laws, importation and purchase of performance enhancing drugs are not considered illegal but the onward sale and distribution is a violation of the law.

David Newcombe and Kevin Lewis of Darlington together with David Fletcher of Middlesbrough were sentenced for their involvement in the illegal operation. Based on court records they were paid £50 for every £3,000 to £4,000 transaction and received an occasional bottle of whisky for transferring the money. It was revealed that Newcombe was doing the job for 3 years and was able to transfer £122,000. In 18 months, Fletcher made 60 transactions with the total value amounting to £191,000. On the other hand, Lewis only made it 19 times which is worth £56,000. The court gave Newcombe 18 months in prison, 3 years for Fletcher and Lewis got 9 months.

The lawyer of Lewis said that his client played a lesser role in the operation. He only transferred money to Thailand as payment for steroids but it does not include growth hormone products. He also describe Lewis as stupid and naive. Fletcher’s lawyer also said that his client is foolish and took the chance of making some cash in hand. He said Fletcher already thought that what they were doing might be illegal. “But as time went on and the number of transactions grew, at some stage during that he must have realized that questions should have been asked and he chose not to,” said John Elwood, lawyer of Fletcher. When Newcombe was arrested last year, the authorities were able to find 10 boxes of growth hormones from his home in Truman Grove. According to the defendants, they were assured that the transactions were legal.

In Los Angeles, a 61 year-old woman was also convicted for smuggling human growth hormones into the country. She was also charged for selling this product online and through spas in different states. Rana J. Hunter, of Marina del Rey, had been convicted in U.S. District Court on eight criminal counts, including smuggling goods into the United States, knowingly distributing growth hormone for a use unauthorized by law and identity theft according to the report of Mercury News. The investigation on Hunter was led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Her business also offers Botox which according to the authorities were not authentic. Hunter will be facing a maximum penalty of 39 years in federal prison.

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