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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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2 3 - 0 1 - 2 0 0 5 Murder suspect focus of steroid probe
By Martin van den Hemel
The Steveston man who is the prime suspect in Wednesday's murder of a therapist was being investigated by the Canada Border Services Agency for steroid smuggling at the time of his arrest, The Richmond Review has learned.
Roy Dalen, 49, the company president of Perfect Body Supplements, a fitness nutrition store on Bridgeport Road, was linked to two steroid seizures by customs officials. Dalen claims to be a former professional body- builder.
The investigation into Dalen began after two shipments of anabolic steroids were found, one at Vancouver International Airport in November of 2003 and the other at a marine container examination facility in Vancouver in May of 2002.
According to the details contained in a search warrant application at Richmond provincial court, a Federal Express shipment of steroids destined for Canada and which originated in Thailand was intercepted on Nov. 17, 2003. The shipment was consigned to a Richmond man. Dalen was "associated to the two steroids seizures by phone and credit card number noted on the FedEx air waybills," the search warrant application states.
On May 13, 2002, customs inspectors from Vancouver Marine Operations seized anabolic steroids "concealed inside a shipment of furniture sent to Canada from Lebanon via sea freight," the warrant states. Dalen is a Lebanese native who emigrated to Canada in 1980.
The furniture and steroid shipment was consigned to a Ghassan Chami, but Dalen's residential address and telephone number were also noted on the shipment's cargo invoice. The search warrant indicates that Chami has already been charged and his case is before the courts. Canada Border Services executed a search warrant at Dalen's business on Bridgeport Road, where they found two documents they linked to the seizures.
Dalen has been on the pages of The Richmond Review three times before.
In September of 1999, he was arrested after his wife ran out of the family's 7th Avenue house in Steveston and screamed to her neighbours for help.
By the time police arrived, she'd been beaten unconscious by Dalen. Police said at the time the extent of Dalen's wife's injuries were quite severe and required hospitalization.
As was the case on Wednesday night, when police arrested Dalen in connection with the murder of Dave Bland, he also resisted police in 1999.
It took "considerable resources to restrain him," one police officer said. "There was resistance right from the beginning."
Earlier in 1999, Dalen received a conditional discharge and a three-year term of probation for uttering death threats. He was ordered to undergo a psychiatric assessment at the time.
In July of 2001, Dalen was featured after a local Good Samaritan returned more than $14,000 in cash that Dalen mistakenly left in an envelope on a Lansdowne Centre bank machine.
Dalen was employed at the time as a Salvation Army supervisor. A year later, in July of 2002, Dalen contacted The Richmond Review, claiming he was the victim of racial profiling at Vancouver International Airport and the increased security in the post 9/11 era.
Dalen claimed his family was singled out because their passports indicated they were born in Lebanon.
In ads he placed in The Richmond Review for his Bridgeport business in 2003, Dalen claimed to be a "former pro body-builder."
Richmond murder suspect charged
Jan 21 2005
VANCOUVER – A 49-year-old Richmond man suspected of stabbing to death a mental health-care worker has now been charged with first-degree murder. Roy Dalen appeared in court Friday, charged with killing his case worker.
Sixty-two-year-old John David Bland was attacked in a parking garage after he left the offices of the Richmond Mental Health Team on Wednesday night.
Bland was found by colleagues in the underground parking lot. He had been stabbed numerous times.
The RCMP say he was able to identify his attacker before he lost consciousness. Police are now looking for a tan-coloured jacket they suspect Dalen may have discarded while they pursued him.
Spokesperson Corp. Peter Thiessen says Dalen travelled north on Number 3 road from Westminster Highway to Bridgeport Road where he turned onto Beckman Place.
"We're asking that all businesses along that route search around their property, in their dumpsters, in the backs of their property, anywhere that someone could have discarded a piece of clothing matching that description. "We feel that it could contain some fair crucial evidence to further our investigation to support what is now a first-degree murder charge."
Dalen remains in custody and makes another court appearance next week.
Health worker murdered
Two shifts from retiring, man, 62, stabbed to death
Ian Austin, Salim Jiwa
A Richmond mental-health worker nearing retirement was ambushed and fatally stabbed in a parkade as he left his office Wednesday. Police believe a former client lay in wait as John David Bland, 62, walked out of an employees-only exit into the third floor of the parkade at 6061 No. 3 Road.
Richmond RCMP Cpl. Peter Thiessen said he was told Bland was two shifts from retiring. "It's pretty sad when something like that happens two days from retirement," said Thiessen.
Bland, suffering from "more than one" stab wound, was discovered by four female co-workers about 5:40 p.m., and remained conscious long enough to identify his attacker.
Police quickly sped to the alleged assailant's place of employment, Perfect Body Supplements, at 3031 Beckman Place. "It was shocking," said Jason Pahal, co-owner of Pizza Plus just three doors away in the same strip mall. "All of a sudden there were officers everywhere, in marked cars and unmarked cars. It was intense. The police told us to lock our doors."
Thiessen said six to eight officers and a police dog arrived to arrest the suspect. "He was yelling, screaming and threatening to kill the officers," said Thiessen. "The police dog took down the suspect."
Thiessen wouldn't identify the 49-year-old man, who has yet to be charged. The suspect has been remanded in custody until he appears in court. At the Coast Mental Health Unit where Bland was slain, a sad-looking woman let in two police investigators yesterday afternoon, then quickly relocked the door.
A hand-scrawled sign on the door read: "The Richmond Mental Health Team is closed today, Jan. 20/05. All appointments are cancelled today. Sorry for the inconvenience."
Police tape sealed off Perfect Body Supplements and two adjacent businesses yesterday as investigators combed the store for evidence. Viviana Zanocco, spokeswoman for Vancouver Coastal Health, said staff members are extremely upset.
"They said goodbye to him after work yesterday, then came to work today to find out he was dead," said Zanocco. "It's a rough day for everyone." She saluted Bland's 30 years of service in the mental-health field.
"David Bland served the residents of Richmond for more than 30 years," she said. "He was a vocational therapist with the Richmond Mental Health Team, working with mental-health consumers to get them job-ready and placing them with community organizations and companies.
"[The health authority] is moving to support David's family and co-workers at this difficult time. We extend our deepest sympathies to family members and those who knew him best."
Zanocco said officials believe the victim and suspect were known to each other.
No jail for man who beat wife unconscious
Martin van den Hemel
A 44-year-old Richmond man who chased his wife down a local street and beat her unconscious received a conditional sentence that means he'll likely not serve any time in jail.
Roy Dalen was arrested by Richmond RCMP officers last month after his Steveston neighbours called police about a particularly violent domestic dispute between Dalen and his wife.
Dalen appeared in Richmond provincial court on Monday, where Judge J.R. Groberman handed him the one-year conditional sentence for assault causing bodily harm. The conditional sentence means Dalen will be able to serve his jail time in the community unless he violates the terms of his sentence. He will not be electronically monitored.
Dalen also received a one-year term of probation and a 10-year firearms prohibition. He received a suspended sentence for uttering threats to cause death.
Dalen's light sentence will only serve to deter other victims of domestic violence from stepping forward to report the crime, said Kim Irving, coordinator of the Nova Transition House in Richmond.
The Review reported last month that Dalen was arrested following a brief scuffle with several police officers.
2 0 - 0 3 - 2 0 0 6 Man convicted of smuggling steroids
Case links accused to murder suspect
By Martin van den Hemel Richmond’s Ghassan Chami was convicted Thursday in B.C. Supreme Court in connection with the discovery of more than 60,000 doses of steroids hidden inside a shipment of living room furniture from Lebanon in 2002. This case links the 51-year-old to accused murderer Roy Dalen, who is charged with killing mental health case worker Dave Bland in January of 2005. Dalen is also charged with the steroid seizure and his trial was set to begin next Thursday but that date has been changed. In May 2002, customs officers examined a container of personal effects shipped from Beirut, Lebanon. Furniture in the shipment appeared suspicious and it was referred for a secondary examination, according to Canada Border Services Agency spokesperson Faith St. John. An x-ray machine revealed more than 4,700 steroid ampules and 61,500 steroid pills hidden inside the cushions of two sofas and a chair. After obtaining a search warrant to search Chami’s home, investigators learned that Chami had travelled to Tripoli, Lebanon in December of 2001 to buy the steroids. The drugs were then hidden inside the furniture and he made arrangements to have the furniture shipped to Canada. Last year, The Richmond Review first published details of this investigation which were revealed in a court search warrant application filed at Richmond provincial court. Dalen has been linked to two separate shipments of anabolic steroids, including the furniture shipment in 2002 as well as a November 2003 Federal Express shipment at the Vancouver International Airport. Chami, who will be sentenced on May 12, was found guilty of five counts including possession of a controlled substance, drug smuggling, two counts of importing a drug and one count of making a false statement. |
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