Feb 16 2010
Seizure of Properties of Steroid Dealer Legal Says Court
In a case regarding improper property seizure of a car and bank account belonging to arrested steroids dealer Bruce Kneller, the Supreme Judicial Court in Boston ruled that the state troopers did not act improperly in seizing the aforementioned items before Kneller’s trial. Bruce Kneller, 38, of Canton was arrested in 2006 for selling steroids over the internet and participating in a steroids distribution ring. Known as the “steroids guru” in the bodybuilding world, Kneller once boasted that he delivered thousands of illegal steroid packages without getting caught.
During his trial, Bruce Kneller pleaded guilty in Norfolk Superior Court to 45 drug charges and gun indictments related to steroids distribution and manufacture, which was marketed on the Internet. Judge Judith Fabricant sentenced Kneller to two years and one day in jail, which he started serving April 23, 2007. The court ruled that when Kneller’s Blue Hills Village condo in Canton was searched by the state troopers, $124,000 worth of illegal steroids were found. Among these were 200,000 steroid capsules and 10 unregistered guns.
According to the prosecutors, Kneller packaged tens of thousands of steroid pills and shipped them around the country to customers gotten from the Internet. Customers were said to have emailed Kneller asking for a pricelist, and Kneller typically offered $75 for a bottle of steroid pills. The customer would then be put in touch with a second person in California for the payment instructions, which usually was to pay in cash wrapped in aluminum foil. The emailed steroid price list were seized from Kneller’s emails and in it, Kneller boasted that he had been in business for more than seven years and had passed the 15,000 orders shipped mark without being caught or intercepted.
A former registered nurse, Kneller was said to have shipped the steroids with labels marked with “Red Star Laboratories” to make them seem safe and legitimate. Commenting on the labeling, Norfolk District William Keating said that it is important that athletes who are ordering and taking these kinds of drugs recognize that the substance is not safe on many levels.
The State Police consequently froze Kneller’s Bank of America account, which contained more than $200,000, and also seized his 2004 Audi. Kneller’s lawyers contended that the seizure may have been done improperly since the car and account were not directly derived from the criminal act.
According to the state law, the state authorities are allowed to seize property that is used in criminal acts. The court ruling last Tuesday said that the right of seizure also applies to property or items that are not directly used in the commitment of crimes. It ruled that the state authorities are allowed to confiscate items that were believed to be or probably derived from illegal drug transactions like anabolic steroids.
The authorities’ camp contended that they had probable cause to believe that there was an existing connection between Bruce Kneller’s Bank of America account and his illegal drug operation. The state also said that it needed “reliable information … that established probable cause” for such a connection and that it did not have to establish whether the car and the bank account stemmed directly from the illegal drug transactions.
