Your Steroid Resource

Today’s top bands and musicians come together to raise awareness about the improper use of steroids among their colleagues. Their campaign kicks off with a benefit concert for Urbanation’s lead singer Lance Bañaga tomorrow, Nov. 12 at 8 p.m. at Off the Grill in Timog, Quezon City.  

A few weeks ago, Lance almost died while confined at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a hospital due to pneumonia triggered by the breakdown of his immune system. Previously, Lance had been taking steroids to numb the pain in his throat; he overdosed on the steroids and this led to his hospitalization.  

Lance’s mother, movie line producer Jo-Ann Bañaga, says, “His fellow musicians were alarmed at this behavior which I think is a bit common among those working in the music industry; some of them really use steroids.”

CLEVELAND — A local doctor was indicted for illegally writing prescriptions for steroids Monday, according to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office. Craig Romey, Angel Otero, and Anthony Tuleta were indicted for illegally purchasing the steroids. Tuleta is a Cleveland police officer. Dr. Scruggs, 61, of Santa Ana, California, prescribed steroids over the internet for non-medical purposes from January 2003 to June 2007. Prosecutors said Romey, Otero, and Tuleta illegally bought and submitted insurance claims to Medical Mutual. Medical Mutual contacted the Drug Enforcement Agency after it identified excessive amounts of steroids being prescribed. Scruggs was indicted on 13 counts of drug trafficking. He faces a maximum sentence of 39 ½ years in prison. Romey was indicted on four counts of possession of drugs and one count of Theft. He faces a maximum sentence of 16 ½ years in prison. Otero was indicted on three counts of possession of drugs and one count of theft. He faces a maximum sentence of 6 years in prison. Tuleta was indicted on six counts of possession of drugs and one count of Theft. He faces a maximum sentence of 24 ½ years in prison.

A man and woman have been accused of the illegal wholesale supply of bodybuilding steroids in Dublin.

Bernard Foy (37) and Anna Nawrocka (26) with an address of Hermitage Gardens, Lucan, are facing a Circuit Court trial on a series of charges relating to the seizure of €24,000 worth of the drugs.

The court has heard they were allegedly involved in the distribution of testosterone and other drugs without a licence.

The pair were found in possession of 6,300 tablets.

The judge remanded them both on continuing bail after deciding the case was too serious to be dealt with in Dublin District Court.

The duo were involved in the wholesale supply of drugs including testosterone which are used in bodybuilding.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has suspended October main-event fighter Chris Leben for nine months, with the mixed martial arts organization’s parent company announcing the fighter tested positive for the steroid stanozolol following his unanimous-decision loss to Michael Bisping Oct. 18 in Birmingham, England.

“I am obviously disappointed with Chris, who has made great strides getting his life back on track,” UFC President Dana White said in a prepared statement, referring to Leben’s past bouts with alcohol use. “To his credit, he has taken responsibility for his actions and is accepting the punishment that has been handed down. But as always, the UFC puts the safety of its athletes first and foremost, and we won’t tolerate anyone using performance enhancing drugs in our organization.”

Leben, 28, fell to 18-5 in losing a middleweight fight to Bisping (18-1) that puts the winner in position to challenge current middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Leben was knocked out by Silva in 49 seconds in a 2006 fight.

He now finds himself suspended and docked one-third of his prize money from the Bisping fight. Lengthy drug-suspension layoffs were detrimental to two recent UFC fighters, as former lightweight champion Sean Sherk lost to B.J. Penn in his first fight back, and Hermes Franca also suffered a loss after testing positive in 2007 bout in Sacramento.

Like Franca — but unlike so many other athletes who deny use after a positive test — Leben confronted his suspension with an admission. 

“This is a huge setback for me, but it is something I will have to deal with,” Leben said in a statement released by UFC. “During my time off from fighting, I want to speak to kids about the dangers of using performance enhancing agents and let them know it just doesn’t get you ahead in life.”

(10-20) 12:32 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — The Chronicle’s Lance Williams tells us that Barry Bonds‘ legal team will be back in federal court Friday, trying once again to persuade U.S. District Judge Susan Illston to pare back the slugger’s 15-count indictment for allegedly lying to the grand jury investigating baseball’s steroids scandal.

Bonds’ lawyers, led by appeals expert Dennis Riordan, will say prosecutors asked the former Giants outfielder “fundamentally ambiguous” questions when they grilled him about taking steroids.

They also cite a typographical error in one count of the indictment - prosecutors forgot to include the legal term “material” in referring to relevant false statements Bonds allegedly made.

The defense wants the judge to dismiss nine counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. Bonds would then go to trial in March on five counts of perjury.

The government says no charges should be dismissed. Bonds’ testimony shows that he had no trouble understanding the prosecutor’s questions, they say in legal papers. The government also said it would correct the typo in a new filing.

In the meantime, if you want to see Bonds’ never-before-published mug shots - taken during his hush-hush booking at the Oakland federal courthouse last December - we’ve got them right here for you.