Entertainers Named In Steroid Report

A number of entertainers were named in connection with an Albany-based steroid investigation, but are not part of an ongoing criminal probe, according to a published report.

Citing unnamed sources, the Times Union of Albany reported on Sunday that R&B music star Mary J. Blige, rap musicians 50 Cent, Timbaland and Wyclef Jean, and award-winning author and producer Tyler Perry may have received or used performance enhancing drugs.

Albany District Attorney P. David Soares launched an Albany-based investigation into steroid trafficking last year.

Law enforcement officials have said evidence does not indicate that the celebrities broke any law. Officials are focusing on the doctors, pharmacists and clinics that provide the drugs.

Ken Sunshine, a spokesman for Tyler Perry declined comment. Calls to representatives for the musicians were not immediately returned Sunday.

Soares has declined to comment on or confirm the identities of the stars mentioned in the report. His multi-state investigation has focused on Signature Pharmacy of Orlando, Fla. So far 10 defendants have pleaded guilty and some professional athletes have been linked to the probe in news reports.

Soares has said Signature was at the center of a web of businesses and doctors that illegally wrote prescriptions for steroids. The investigation gained national attention almost a year ago when authorities raided Signature. The company's owners and the pharmacy's operators are awaiting trial in Albany on related charges.

Records shared with the Times Union and information from several cooperating witnesses on Long Island indicate the celebrities received prescribed human growth hormone or steroids. In some cases aliases were used for their delivery.

For example, the paper claimed that between August 2005 and January 2007, Blige allegedly received multiple shipments of Jentropin (a human growth hormone) and Oxandrolone (an anabolic steroid) from the Orlando pharmacy. At least one order was sent to a "Marlo Stanfield," which is the name of a drug kingpin on the HBO TV show "The Wire."

In response to the article, a spokeswoman for Blige told the New York Daily News that the singer "has never taken any performance-enhancing illegal steroids."

The Times Union also reported that 50 Cent, a.k.a. Curtis James Jackson III, allegedly received shipments of steroids sent to his residences in Connecticut and Los Angeles, and to a Long Island chiropractor's office, under his real name and under the name "Michael Jordan."

The article comes on the heels of Former Sen. George Mitchell's report last month on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

That report said former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski provided steroids and human growth hormone linked to several prominent players, including Roger Clemens, Paul Lo Duca, Mo Vaughn, Lenny Dykstra and Andy Pettitte. Radomski pleaded guilty last year to charges that he dealt steroids to players for a decade.

Hearings are set to begin this month in Congress on the Mitchell report.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced legislation that would make possession of human growth hormone illegal without a current, valid prescription.