Arizona Man Sentenced to Prison for Manufacturing and Distributing Steroids Over the Internet

Nora R. Dannehy, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MATTHEW J. PELTZ, 37, of Chandler, Arizona, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Mark R. Kravitz in New Haven to 12 months and one day of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for distributing anabolic steroids. PELTZ pleaded guilty to the offense on September 27, 2007.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, PELTZ conspired with two other Arizona residents, Edwin Porter and Tyler Lunn, to purchase more than one kilogram of raw steroid powder from China, manufacture anabolic steroids, and distribute them to customers around the country through a MySpace.com profile “anabolic-ss” and an Internet website they created, www.anabolic-superstore.com.

This matter stems from Operation Phony Pharm, an investigation headed by the FBI’s Healthcare Fraud Unit in the District of Connecticut. Using several sophisticated investigative techniques, this initiative has targeted websites and individuals who are selling Schedule II and III pharmaceuticals over the Internet without a doctor’s consultation or a legitimate legal written prescription. The investigation also sought to identify and close down underground laboratories in the U.S. that are making these drugs from raw materials obtained from outside the U.S.

Porter and Lunn also pleaded guilty to anabolic steroids distribution charges. On August 7, 2008, Lunn was sentenced to five months of imprisonment and, on December 9, 2008, Porter was sentenced to 22 months of imprisonment.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Edward Chang.

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