Texas raids net Cove firefighter, 65 others
Posted On: Thursday, May. 28 2009 04:15 AM
By Victor O'Brien
Killeen Daily HeraldFederal drug agents on Wednesday arrested a Copperas Cove firefighter suspected in a nationwide drug and steroid ring.
Drug Enforcement Administration agents from Waco arrested Larry Keith Woodard at 6 a.m. Wednesday at the Copperas Cove fire station. Woodard was on duty at the time.
Woodard was arrested as part of coordinated raids that netted 66 people in Texas and seven in four other states. Woodard went before a U.S. District Court judge in Waco Wednesday morning to hear the charges.
He was charged with trafficking steroids and Oxycotin, said Steve Robertson, a DEA agent from Waco. Woodard bonded out on a $25,000 bond, according to a clerk with the U.S. District Court in Waco. An arraignment was set for June 4 in Houston.
Woodard and other Texas defendants face charges including conspiracy to manufacture and deliver controlled substances and/or conspiracy to commit delivery of dangerous drugs. The charges hold penalties of up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000.
An internal investigation will be conducted by the Copperas Cove Fire Department, said Fire Chief Mike Baker. Baker declined to comment further, citing a policy forbidding personnel matters from being discussed in the media. Baker said he was not at the station when the arrest happened.
Woodard has been with CCFD full time since April 11, 2007, according to the Texas Commission on Fire Protection.
Others arrested included professional bodybuilders, gym owners, personal trainers and pharmacists. They are charged with manufacturing, selling and possessing steroids, human growth hormone, Ecstasy and other prescription drugs.
The arrests came after authorities found several labs in Fort Bend and Harris counties outside Houston, where steroids were manufactured from chemicals smuggled from China. Other steroids and drugs were smuggled to Texas from Mexico, Fort Bend County Sheriff Milton Wright said.
Acting U.S. Attorney Tim Johnson said Charles Falkenhagen illegally imported human growth hormone from a Chinese pharmaceutical company. Falkenhagen ran a fitness center in Sugar Land, a Houston suburb in Fort Bend County.
A federal grand jury indicted Falkenhagen and 21 others on 46 counts in April related to the operation, ranging from smuggling human growth hormone, money laundering, conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute Ecstasy and other charges, Johnson said.
More arrests were expected, officials said. No suspects had known links to professional athletes.
Contact Victor O'Brien at
vobrien@kdhnews.com, or 512-501-7468.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.