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1 9 - 0 5 - 2 0 0 5 Ex-Riverside star arrested
Darren Hunt
Former Riverside High School star and current LSU fullback Shawn Jordan has been charged with possession of a controlled substance after allegedly attempting to transport anabolic steroids into El Paso from Juárez.
According to a police report, the 20-year-old Jordan was arrested at approximately 1 p.m. Tuesday as he tried to cross the Paso del Norte Bridge in Downtown El Paso in a 1996 Ford EXP.
The 6-foot-1, 242-pound Jordan was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Inspectors and sent to a secondary area for inspection, where an undisclosed amount of steroids was found. He was booked into the El Paso County jail on a $750 bond.
"I'm not allowed to say anything right now," Jordan said Wednesday when contacted by the El Paso Times.
LSU head coach Les Miles could not be reached for comment. LSU sports information director Michael Bonnette said the school still was trying to gather information about Jordan's arrest and would not comment.
Riverside coach Tom Work, who said he talks to his players about the dangers of steroids, was "shocked" by Jordan's arrest on Class A misdemeanor charges, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
"I haven't talked to Shawn in a while, and all I can say, honestly, is that he was a great kid -- the hardest working kid in our program three years ago," Work said. "I can't say what's going on with him now, other than it appears he's made a bad decision."
Jordan, who played in two games last season but did not carry the ball, will be classified as a sophomore at LSU next season. He came out of the spring listed as the third-string fullback on the school's depth chart.
U.S. Customs officials in El Paso have reported 144 steroid seizures, including 10 this year.
"It's not a daily occurrence," U.S. Customs spokesman Roger Maier said, "but we do see it regularly, most likely because of the availability in Mexico."
2 2 - 0 5 - 2 0 0 5 Border towns are steroids hot spots
The Times-Picayune
The arrest of an LSU football player this week on charges of possessing anabolic steroids highlights how easy it is to illegally obtain performance-enhancing drugs. In border towns such as El Paso, Texas, it's as easy as crossing into Mexico.
Shawn Jordan, a reserve fullback for the Tigers, was driving across a bridge from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday when U.S. Customs and Border inspectors stopped him and seized 30 milliliters of anabolic steroids, according to El Paso police.
The seizure was no isolated case. Since Jan. 1, 2000, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office in El Paso has reported 144 seizures of steroids. In 2001, two football players at the University of Texas-El Paso were arrested on charges of transporting steroids across the border.
"Anti-terrorism is our No. 1 priority, and our inspections process is quite thorough, much more intense than it was pre 9/11," said Roger Maier, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office in El Paso. "As a result, we do turn up quite a few other violations, and (illegal possession of) prescription medications and steroids are part of that mix." When it comes to illegal trafficking of steroids, Maier said, El Paso is no different from any other border town and experiences less illicit drug-smuggling than San Ysidro, Calif., and Nogales, Ariz. He also said the number of steroid seizures is decreasing, and only partly attributable to increased vigilance.
"That probably coincides with the availability of this product through other channels, like the Internet," he said.
In fact, while a spokesman for the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy said Mexico remains the largest source of steroids used illegally in the United States, he also said the Internet has become a big supplier for the drugs. Jordan, 20, who faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a
Yesalis said he had read about Jordan's arrest and said the player was "unlucky."
"The vast majority are not interdicted at the borders," Yesalis said. But not all smugglers make it through the borders. Between Oct. 1, 2003, and Sept. 30, 2004, federal agents made 7,290 seizures of steroids, a spokeswoman at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection department said. Those seizures steadily climbed to a high of 9,606 during the fiscal year of 2003 from a low of 2,988 in the fiscal year of 1996 -- the last year for which the department has records, the spokesperson said.
But the number of seizures pales in comparison to the number of junior high and high school students Yesalis estimates have used steroids. "I'm not uncomfortable with saying we could have up to 1 million kids who at some time in their life in this country have cycled on these drugs at least once."
Yesalis also said he thinks steroid use among college football players is "epidemic" and that the NCAA's random-testing policy is flawed. Yesalis said college athletic directors have told him the programs know 48 hours before testing will occur, giving athletes time to use masking agents or cover up signs of the drug, and that the absence of testing in the summer is another "loophole."
"Kids can use drugs during summer, and they'll see lasting benefits throughout the year," Yesalis said. ". . . It's been my experience that you can maintain after you're off the drug 40 to 80 percent and in some instances 90 percent of your gain."
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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
