SEIZED DRUGS WON'T BE RETURNED

KISSIMMEE -- -An Orlando pharmacy at the center of a national steroid-
distribution ring isn't getting some of its seized drugs back any time
soon.

Osceola Circuit Judge John Marshall Kest ruled against Signature
Compounding Pharmacy's request Friday for some of the items taken by
investigators during searches of its two pharmacies in Orlando and
Winter Park.

The pharmacy's lawyers told Kest that the drugs seized during the Feb.
27 search will expire soon and the business will lose $400,000 worth
of inventory without due process. Signature is still a working
pharmacy and has a legal right to the drugs, pharmacy attorney Amy
Tingley said.

Prosecutors say the drugs could be evidence. No criminal charges have
been filed in Florida.

Signature -- a $30 million business -- is at the center of an Albany
County, N.Y., investigation. So far, the Albany County District
Attorney's Office has indicted 20 people, including doctors and clinic
operators, in the steroid case. Six of them have pleaded guilty.

Four Signature executives indicted on 20 criminal counts in New York
remain free on $30,000 bail.

Willoughby Mariano, Sarah Lundy, Rene Stutzman, Mark Pino and Rich
McKay of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.