How an aberdeen garage became key stop in global steroid pipeline

ABERDEEN -- The garage has gray siding, a metallic roof and three white doors of various sizes, and it's nicer than the house that shares the address at 2500 Aberdeen Ave. U.S. 101 South is a half-block away, Christian and Missionary Alliance Church just a few doors down, giving the neighborhood respectability.

People stop and take photos of the notorious building in the center of it all. A neighbor jokes about putting the place on his Web site.

This is where previously unattainable riches were created and an international steroid ring came to die, federal authorities say.

Shortly before sunrise Sept. 20, Drug Enforcement Administration agents from Seattle, accompanied by Aberdeen police and Grays Harbor County deputies, cordoned off surrounding streets, served arrest and search warrants on homeowners Ray and Lesley Ross and exposed their year-old garage for what investigators insist it really was -- an underground lab that turned Chinese ingredients into an American desire.

Eight miles away in Montesano, two of Ross' friends, Josh Springer, 25, and Jeff Thompson, 30, were pulled out of bed and arrested in simultaneous early-morning raids. Allegedly in possession of steroids and found to be destroying evidence, respectively, they were labeled as associates in a drug-manufacturing operation with direct ties to Las Vegas, Thailand and China.

These people put a Northwest face on Operation Raw Deal, a federal sting that swept the U.S. and nine other countries over four days, netting 56 labs, 124 arrests, $6.5 million in U.S. currency, 242 kilograms of raw steroid powder and 11.4 million dosage units of finished product. The latter amount was described as enough to supply 50,000 users for a year. And it's not over: Another wave of arrests is expected soon.

Ray Ross, 30, who has pleaded not guilty and is free on $25,000 bond, has been indicted in federal court in San Diego on charges of conspiracy to import and distribute steroids and money laundering. His wife and two friends have not been charged, but remain under investigation, the DEA said.

Aberdeen's role in illicit steroid activity with global implications proved astonishing to the 16,461 people who live here, but not to the investigators aggressively tracing it through the Internet to the unassuming coastal community, 109 miles southwest of Seattle.

"This is nowhere land, the end of the world," lamented Dale Revel, 59, a retired longshoreman whose son, Harley, was an Aberdeen High School contemporary of Ross'. "Aberdeen is a hick town. How do you meet some big drug guy who obviously isn't very smart?

Steroids find the headlines mostly when high-profile athletes are exposed as users, gaining a competitive edge by cheating. Olympic track star Marion Jones was put to shame for her recent steroids admission and urged to forfeit her medals. San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds set baseball's all-time home run record this past summer, but the celebration was muted and his accomplishment considered tainted because he's suspected of using. Dozens of athletes' names could be exposed soon by a baseball steroids investigation headed by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.

"Every time someone does something great in sports, there's a skeptic now," Payne said. "I'm a sports fan. I hate it."

Though unwilling to go on the record or name names, former University of Washington football players and track athletes have admitted using steroids once supplied by a Capitol Hill physician. The only high-profile athlete to ever divulge his use was ex-Huskies and NFL offensive lineman Curt Marsh, who made the admission in a 1988 Seattle P-I story that he briefly experimented with steroids as a pro.

In Seattle, authorities have successfully prosecuted just one steroid case in recent years, in 2005, convicting Franklin Witter of Marysville of steroid trafficking. He's serving a three-year prison term in Oregon.

But they are working on another. In July, authorities arrested Dr. Howard Levine on charges that he illegally sold steroids from his Capitol Hill office. Workout enthusiasts say trade in the illegal pills has boomed in certain gyms, particularly those popular within the gay community.

"I would say it's somewhat prevalent among the gym crowd, getting their ideal of the perfect body," said Tom Swanton. "I've seen a handful of people where it's obvious. You put two and two together -- the acne, the results they get -- and it's commented on. People know."

'Somebody knew somebody'

The Aberdeen garage linked to steroids was built in the summer of 2006. Neighbors watched the structure emerge behind Ross' modest, single-story home, towering over it. The garage measures 744 square feet and cost $20,705, according to county assessor's records. People noticed Ross never parked his newly acquired boat or three vehicles, a black Suburban sport utility vehicle, white Toyota Tacoma truck and a red Toyota Camry, inside the new garage. They saw Federal Express and DSL mail-delivery trucks stop at that address almost daily. They heard the unemployed man had bought a tavern.

A month ago, federal agents stepped out of SUVs with tinted windows and put people in handcuffs and in the back seat. They say they confiscated steroids, human growth hormone, Valium, a pill press, $4,300 in cash, the boat and several weapons, including a .50-caliber sniper rifle similar to those used in the Iraq war, capable of hitting a target a couple of miles away.

Ross was taken to the federal detention center near SeaTac and booked and fingerprinted; his wife and friends went to the Grays Harbor County Jail.

"I'm just surprised something like that would be in Aberdeen," said Jesus Villalobos, a Ross neighbor and a casino-surveillance employee who watched with great interest as someone installed a camera one night on a nearby telephone pole. "You hear about steroids everywhere. Not here. What we're known for is meth labs."

The federal indictment accuses Ross of working in concert with Goran Crnila, a Bosnian citizen living in Thailand, and Joshua Phillips, a Las Vegas resident. It says Crnila and Phillips created the Web site, steroidsuperboard.

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Additional information :

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