The last remaining defendant, Mr. B. Petzke has pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, which is known to be anabolic steroids. He made his plea in front of district judge N. Gorten at the district court in Boston in February 2018 for his role as part of the counterfeit ring supplying anabolic steroids to customers across the United States.
Onyx Pharma
Mr. Petzkye played a pivotal role as part of a counterfeit steroid operation that falsely used the trademark registered by Onyx Pharmaceuticals. The trademark abuse was used to sell anabolic steroids that had actually been manufactured in an underground lab. Tyler Baumann and Phillip Goodwin may have been the driving force behind the entire operation, which was based in Massachusetts. However, four others who have been indicted were involved as part of the illegal steroid operation. Mr. Petzke was noted as being an employee of Goodwin and Baumann.
He was involved in the collection of payments made by customers, who may transfer is by MoneyGram and Western Union. He also used his own personal residential address for receiving mail packages from overseas which contained anabolic steroid powders in their raw form. It is noted that the hardest responsibility that he was given was to fulfill customer orders. He was supplied with a myriad of Onyx Pharmacy branded steroids, which included nandrolone decanoate, testosterone cypionate trenbolone acetate oxandrolone, etc.
Petzke regularly received steroid orders from Baumann Via SMS. The SMS messages contained customer information, such as the names and addresses and the anabolic steroids that they had placed an order for. He would put the orders together by using his own supply of anabolic steroids and then ship them two customers via USPS. Once the packages have been sent, he would then send the tracking information to Baumann Via SMS.
Another co-conspirator, Mr. R Medeiros dispatched more than 4,000 packages to customers under the direction of Baumann and Goodwin. Mr. Petzke was the last member of the 6 conspirators who made up the counterfeiting ring to fall. At this present moment in time, his plea agreement has not been released and he has been scheduled to appear in court for sentencing in May 2018. He faces up to five years of jail time and a fine of a maximum of $250,000.
While 5 years may seem like a long stretch, this sentence is much less than what Goodwin and Baumann can expect to receive. As the masterminds of the Onyx pharmaceutical counterfeit, and the ones who benefited most from the operation, they are much more likely to receive heavy prison sentences in comparison to the four co-conspirators. The manufacturer and production of counterfeit drugs by underground Laboratories causes losses ranging in the millions for big pharma.
The customers who purchase counterfeit medications from these kinds of operations run the risk of purchasing ineffective anabolic steroids, or worse, anabolic steroids that have been produced in unsterile environments that can lead to infection. Unfortunately, with legitimate anabolic steroids being difficult to procure and being far from economical, many people are prepared to purchase counterfeit anabolic steroids from underground Laboratories.
While there are many legitimate sources for purchasing anabolic steroids online, in the United States it is illegal to purchase anabolic steroids without a legitimate doctor’s prescription. The outcome of this trial will be updated in due course as and when the information becomes available. One thing is for sure though, and that is that the judge will most likely want to make an example of the group to act as a deterrent for others who are considering committing the same crime.
Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/saugus-man-pleads-guilty-role-counterfeit-steroid-conspiracy
