NYPD 'ROID SHOCK
30 COPS TESTED
By MURRAY WEISS, LARRY CELONA, PERRY CHIARAMONTE and ED ROBINSON
October 17, 2007 -- As many as 30 cops were rounded up last night and ordered to an NYPD medical facility in Queens to take drug tests as part of a steroid investigation that has rocked the department, sources told The Post.
Six officers are under investigation for alleged steroid use after a raid on a Brooklyn pharmacy yielded information indicating they may have received improper prescriptions, police said in an official statement.
The statement said no officers have been arrested and no arrests are anticipated.
But the cops sent for drug tests will be placed on modified duty. They are assigned to precincts in Brooklyn and Staten Island, and one is a high-ranking member of the NYPD, The Post's sources said.
The investigation stems from a Monday-night raid on Lowen's Pharmacy in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
Cops and state Health Department officials netted millions of dollars in steroids and human growth hormone during the raid, according to a report on the Albany Times Union's Web site.
That report said the raid was connected to the investigation of Orlando, Fla.-based Signature Pharmacy.
Signature has been at the center of a major steroid investigation by the Albany District Attorney's Office.
Several professional athletes have been linked to that probe, including Met relief pitcher Scott Schoeneweis and St. Louis Cardinal slugger Rick Ankiel. Neither has been charged.
The NYPD would not immediately confirm a connection between the investigation of the officers and the Signature investigation.
Sources said the six cops obtained prescriptions from a Staten Island doctor and brought them to Lowen's. They're under investigation for possible improper use of the prescriptions for nonmedical, personal use of steroids.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne last night angrily denied a broadcast report by WPIX/Channel 11 that 30 officers were being arrested for their connection to the steroid ring, calling it "wildly distorted and exaggerated."
A station spokesman would not immediately comment. Film producer Julius Nasso has financial ties to Lowen's pharmacy.
Nasso is the one-time business partner to action star Steven Segal, and served a year in prison for helping mobsters shake down the actor. Segal recently filed suit against Nasso for civil damages stemming from the 2003 case.
.gif)
