Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Steroid trafficking case has La Crosse ties
MADISON — A Bulgarian national who was extradited to Madison from Thailand pleaded not guilty Monday to federal steroid trafficking charges.
Spartak V. Todorov, 31, appeared in U.S. District Court to face a five-count indictment alleging that he and a Chinese man distributed anabolic steroids through a network that included a La Crosse man.
Despite the seriousness of the charges against him, U.S. Attorney J.B. Van Hollen acknowledged that Todorov could end up leaving the United States without serving time in prison.
Todorov was indicted by a grand jury in Madison in November 2003 after an investigation that started in April 2003, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials intercepted a parcel in New York intended for the
La Crosse man. The parcel contained 5,000 tablets of methandrostenolone steroids.
Federal agents and La Crosse police raided the man's home about a week later and found an additional 7,000 steroid tablets, liquid steroids and other material. The man admitted he had been getting the steroids by mail from Todorov and re-mailing them to other customers in the United States.
Todorov's alleged supplier, Kenneth Chen, who lives in China, was indicted on one count of steroid trafficking and remains a fugitive, Van Hollen said. The chances of extraditing Chen from China are remote, he said.
The La Crosse man, who was not identified, so far has not been charged.
Anabolic steroids are a controlled substance and can only be legally prescribed by a doctor. Users are typically trying to quickly gain muscle mass for sports or physical appearance. Their use is banned by most professional and amateur athletics organizations.
The reason the case was pursued, he said, was not necessarily to see Todorov get a long prison sentence but to send a message about the health effects and illegality of steroids.
"We need to send a message that not only are they bad healthwise, but they are illegal and you could go to prison for that," Van Hollen said.
Ed Treleven is a reporter with the State Journal in Madison.
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