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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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0 7 - 0 1 - 2 0 0 5 Former resident sentenced in steroid distribution case
By NICOLE BYWATER
A former Allen resident was recently sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for operating as a major anabolic steroid distributor, marketing across the country via the Internet.
Eric Lee Stetzel, 33, pleaded guilty to money laundering in connection with the steroid case.
He will also serve a concurrent 41-month sentence for five counts of wire fraud in an unrelated case arising out of the San Francisco area, involving the bogus offering of computers and related equipment for sale through online auctions. Court documents state that Stetzel was involved in the sale, distribution and interstate commerce of steroids from October 1999 until January 2001. During that time, he and a co-conspirator, Michael Norberg, used false names and transferred more than $55,000 by wire through the banking system and money transfer business or through air transportation services from the United States to various locations in Thailand, Mexico, Malta, the United Kingdom, and Brazil for the steroids.
Stetzel was arrested at his Las Vegas home in March.
Property records show that Stetzel lived on Meadowgate Drive in Allen from 1997 until early 2002. In January 2001, Drug Enforcement Administration agents, supported by local law enforcement, executed a search warrant of Stetzel's Allen residence, which revealed large volumes of packaged and unpackaged anabolic steroids.
Stezel and Norberg were indicted by federal grand jury in Sherman in August 2002. Norberg pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids in Las Vegas, Nev. in November 2002. Stetzel's whereabouts were unknown until he was apprehended in Las Vegas, Nev. The investigation of this case began after authorities with the Lafayette, (La.) Metro Narcotics Unit learned that Stetzel was involved in an extensive anabolic steroid ring in the United State, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office. Investigators learned that Stetzel's payments for the steroids were between $1,200 and $1,500 per day, by means of wire transfers from locations across the country, the statement said.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations Division, the FBI, the DEA, and local law enforcement agencies in Texas, Louisiana, California and Nevada.
"These coordinated multi-agency efforts are the only effective means to investigate and dismantle sophisticated criminal organizations. IRS-CI contributes the financial investigators and expertise that is critical to finding the money," said Michael Lacenski, special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Office of Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. In the other case against Stetzel, more than $109,000 in fraudulent transactions took place in September 2003, where Stetzel received payment for but did not ship the promised computers and related equipment. That operation was conducted under an account named surplus.com.
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