| Show Figure in steroids investigation kills himself Rocco owner who A pharmacy committed suicide after getting caught up in a steroid scandal involving the New York Police Department and others could have been a key witness in any upcoming grand jury proceeding or criminal trial law enforcement sources familiar with the probe said Tuesday John Rossi 56 owner pf Lowens Lowen's a pharmacy in Brooklyn that has emerged as a central location in the investigation was found shot to death in an office above the standing long-standing establishment Monday Sources said Brooklyn prosecutors were seeking Rossi's cooperation inthe in inthe inthe the probe and could have brought Scandal Continued on AJ Steroid Scandal Continued from Al criminal charges against him if he refused The medical examiner ruled the death death a suicide Tuesday Rossi left a brief note in which he asked his wife Justine to forgive him an investigator said Rossi the sources said had not decided whether he would cooperate or testify But the Brooklyn district attorneys attorney's office which has been investigating doctors suspected of prescribing steroids without medical cause is going forward with plans to present the case to toa toa toa a grand jury If Rossi did agree sources said he would have provided prosecutors an insiders insider's view of the alleged crimes answering critical questions such as where the steroids came from and who referred users to doctors willing to prescribe them He wasn't any kind of mastermind one source said of Rossi He kind of went along with what was going on but he knew everything that was going on there He knew the whole operation You need someone like that to explain how things worked Still the sources said there is more than enough other evidence to present the case to a grand jury There is also the sources noted a number of names and files from seized records already in inthe the hands of investigators They include lists of customers including five officers who have been suspended for alleged steroid use which violates department policy Those officers are not suspected of dealing steroids and thus only face departmental penalties including dismissal but not criminal charges The case spearheaded by the Albany County district attorneys attorney's office branched into Brooklyn in May when state narcotics officers raided Lowens Lowen's and seized more than in steroids A subsequent raid in September uncovered about 8 million worth o of f steroids and human growth hormone or No one from Lowens Lowen's has been charged in the case The Brooklyn and Albany district attorneys attorney's offices refused comment Tuesday as did Rossi's co- co workers Paul Aufrichtig the pharmacy's lawyer di did d not respond to a request fo for r comment continent But one customer Debbie Stevens 49 sai said d she had recently noticed notice d how stressed Rossi seemed to beHe beHe be He seemed a little in his face strained like anybody in his situation would be Stevens said after leaving a bouquet of red silk flowers outside the pharmacy Its pressure like that when something happens Still she said shell she'll remember Rossi for the service he provided He was more like a family member than a pharmacist You look at him like a friend |
