NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

JOHN F. WOOD

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

JULY 21, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OPERATION RAW DEAL

OPERATION JUICE BOX

JEFFERSON CITY MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO POSSESSING

ANABOLIC STEROIDS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John F. Wood, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Jefferson City, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to possessing anabolic steroids with the intent to distribute.

Today’s guilty plea is the result of Operation Raw Deal, an international investigation targeting the illegal manufacturing and trafficking of anabolic steroids and its raw materials, mainly from China. The related investigation in the Western District of Missouri is called Operation Juice Box.

Jason Varner, 34, of Jefferson City, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge William A. Knox this morning to the charge contained in an Oct. 18, 2007, federal indictment.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, Varner had ordered approximately $10,000 worth of anabolic steroids. Half of that order had already been delivered, the affidavit says, with arrangements to deliver a portion of the remaining order to Varner at a commuter parking lot in Boone County, Mo. When Varner arrived at the parking lot on Sept. 19, 2007, he was arrested. During a later search of Varner’s residence, law enforcement officers found 44 vials of anabolic steroids.

Under federal statutes, Varner could be subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence E. Miller. It was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

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