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Former Texas Rangers pitcher John Rocker reacts after striking out Anaheim Angels' Tim Salmon to end the eighth inning of the second game of a doubleheader in this June 24, 2002 file photo in Arlington, Texas. Rocker's publicist told the Daily News Tuesday, March 6, 2007, that he admitted taking HGH, now banned by Major League Baseball, but said it was for medical reasons.
Two more people linked to a nationwide investigation into the illegal sale of steroids were arraigned Tuesday on drug-related charges as published reports implicated more athletes, including former star relief pitcher John Rocker.
SI.com reported that Rocker, 1996 Olympic wrestling gold-medalist Kurt Angle, major leaguer David Bell and Victor Martinez, winner of the latest Ohio bodybuilding competition named for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, all showed up on a client list of Applied Pharmacy, a Mobile, Ala., company raided in connection with the investigation.
Rocker's publicist told the Daily News that he admitted taking HGH, now banned by Major League Baseball, but said it was for medical reasons.
"That was a growth hormone that was prescribed by a doctor in relation to his rotator cuff surgery in 2003, so I don't really think there is anything to the story," Debi Curzio, Rocker's publicist, told the Daily News for a story on the newspaper's Web site Tuesday night.
SI.com reported that Rocker received two prescriptions for somatropin between April and July 2003.
Steven and Karen Lampert of Anti-Aging Centers in Nanuet pleaded not guilty in an Albany County, N.Y., courtroom and were released without bail. They are charged with submitting prescriptions to a Florida pharmacy some "obviously forged" according to the district attorney for drugs totaling more than $50,000 for people without a medical need.
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=2930016