Brooklyn, NY – An NYPD deputy chief linked to a steroid scandal faces a departmental trial after an administrative judge refused to throw out evidence against him.
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Michael Marino was among two dozen NYPD employees whose names turned up on a list of customers who allegedly bought steroids and human growth hormone from Lowen’s Compounding Pharmacy in Brooklyn.
Marino argued that the list – seized from the pharmacy during a supposedly secret Albany grand jury probe in 2007 – never should have been given to Internal Affairs.
“Grand jury testimony is secret for a reason and the results of that probe should not be turned over and wind up in an internal departmental hearing,” his attorney, Michael Shapiro, said during a hearing at 1 Police Plaza.
Martin Karopkin, deputy commissioner of the NYPD’s administrative trials, noted that Marino “came forward with information about his treatment” after his name surfaced.
The deputy chief took and passed a drug test and initially was cleared by top brass.
An ongoing investigation, however, found he had a prescription for HGH that was not medically necessary.
Marino declined to take an offer of a year’s probation and loss of 30 days’ pay, setting the stage for a disciplinary trial – which Karopkin set for Sept. 14.
Shapiro said after the decision that the ruling was not a surprise.
“The department had already settled other cases. It would have been an embarrassment if the information was suppressed now,” he said.
Can someone explain why a person would take these steroids. I thought that only athletes took them to increase their muscles.