2010 is a good year for the pharmacy owners allegedly involved in a multi-state conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids. They have been fighting this case for a few years already but the latest developments showed that they are winning the legal battle, at least for now.

Last week, the lawyer of the defendants informed the U.S. District Courts in Orlando, Florida and in Albany, NY that the federal prosecutors in Florida have already ended their criminal investigation against the pharmacy owners. They told the court that they received a letter from federal prosecutors stating that the matters previously pending against the Signature Pharmacy has been closed.

The federal prosecutor in Orlando was ordered by a district judge in June to return various pharmaceutical drugs and company records to the pharmacy because they were illegally confiscated. A raid was conducted by federal authorities in 2007 against the Signature Pharmacy for their alleged involvement in illegal steroids distribution ring. It was considered as one of the largest steroid distribution ring in the country that was dismantled by the joint efforts of different government agencies headed by District Prosecutor David Soares of Albany, NY.

The ruling of US District Judge Gregory Presnell was appealed by the federal prosecutors in Orlando. However, the prosecutors dropped their appeal and agreed to return the evidences. While this is considered a good news for the pharmacy owners, they still have to face, one more time, the man that orchestrated their arrest in 2007.

Owners are still facing several charges in New York. It was already dismissed by a district judge because of a conflict of interest issue against Albany Prosecutor David Soares. Prosecutor Soares, his assistant and some police officers in Orlando were sued by pharmacy owners for allegedly violating their civil rights when Soares and other law enforcement officers raided and arrested them in 2007. But Soares and his group went to the Appellate court and they were able to get favorable ruling. The appellate judge reinstated Prosecutor Soares in the case.

The lawyers of the pharmacy said in their filings with the court that the appeals court judge may have been wrong in reversing the decision. “It is a veiled attempt to undermine Judge Herrick’s appropriate exercise of his judicial authority to appoint an impartial prosecutor to reinstate the integrity of the criminal process as it pertains to this matter,” said John Casey, an attorney for the pharmacy’s owners.

But the legal struggle of the owners of the Signature Pharmacy in Florida will still continue. They have again implicated in a steroid case in Rhode Island. A businessman from Orlando pleaded guilty last year for smuggling human growth hormone from China to the United States. Based on court documents, Victor Martin Effron implicated Signature Pharmacy in his operation. Two doctors from New York, who also pleaded guilty to felony charges, admitted that they wrote steroid prescriptions through the Signature Pharmacy.

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