8 Broward cops investigatedFederal agents found the deputies' names on customer lists at a drug company.
Posted February 18, 2005 FORT LAUDERDALE -- Eight Broward deputy sheriffs are under investigation after their names showed up as patients or customers at a Deerfield Beach drug company that was raided by federal agents earlier this week, the Sheriff's Office confirmed Thursday. Federal investigators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration raided the PowerMedica office Tuesday looking for mislabeled human-growth hormone and anabolic steroids that were sold without valid prescriptions, according to search warrants released by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami. Two law-enforcement sources said some of the deputies work on the agency's SWAT team and are motorcycle officers in Deerfield Beach. Federal investigators turned over the eight deputies' names to the Sheriff's Office after their names were found in records seized Tuesday night. The deputies are all under investigation by the internal-affairs unit of the Sheriff's Office and have been required to undergo drug testing, Sheriff's spokesman Jim Leljedal said. They have been placed on administrative assignment, which means they will work desk jobs until the inquiry is completed. "We received the same information you got and we have opened a professional compliance investigation," Leljedal said. The deputies have not been charged with any crimes, but Leljedal said the results of the investigation will be turned over to the Broward State Attorney's Office to determine if any action should be taken. According to a list of evidence seized from PowerMedica, one deputy's name was on an invoice for three vials of two anabolic steroids, Stanozolol and Oxyandrolone. Anabolic steroids can legally be prescribed for medical reasons, but people who abuse steroids often do so to "bulk up," and to improve physical performance. Efforts to reach the deputies were unsuccessful.