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Feds: Benoit was given 'excessive' steroids

Federal prosecutors say the amount of testosterone prescribed to professional wrestler was "excessive".

Written by:

JOHN HOLLIS

10/08/07
 
Federal prosecutors say the amount of testosterone prescribed to professional wrestler Chris Benoit by his doctor was "excessive" and want the judge to dismiss motions to suppress evidence seized in the case.

U.S. District Attorney David Nahmias has asked Judge Russell G. Vineyard to proceed in the case against Phil Astin III, the Carrollton doctor indicted on seven federal counts of overprescribing to two unnamed patients. Officials have said that Benoit, who killed his wife and child in June before taking his own life, was not one of those patients.


This March 29, 2004 file photo provided by World Wrestling Entertainment shows Chris Benoit. The amount of testosterone prescribed to pro wrestler Benoit far exceeded the normal amount for a hormone disorder he was purportedly being treated for, federal prosecutors said in new court papers. The papers were filed in a criminal case against Dr. Phil Astin, Benoit's personal physician, who is charged with overprescribing medication to two other patients.
 

Officials have said they expect to file additional charges.

Astin declined comment when reached at his home Monday afternoon.

Astin was forced to surrender his medical license soon after his arrest in late June and has been under house arrest. His previous legal team had sought to have evidence seized from his properties ruled as inadmissible.

Federal authorities say they had probable cause and allege the recovered evidence confirms the doctor had engaged in an "excessive amount of prescriptions for a sole practitioner medical office in a rural location such as Carrollton" in the two years prior to his arrest.

Officials cited records from Jones Pharmacy in Fayetteville showing seven testosterone prescriptions Astin wrote for Benoit from May 2006 to May 2007, calling them "an excessive amount of testosterone cypionate."

"Each prescription dispensed a 10-month supply of the drug," authorities charged, "yet the pharmacy filled seven of these prescriptions in a 12-month period."

The government said it also recovered other pertinent files showing that Astin had provided "take-home syringes" of Demerol to one of his staff members.

Authorities also allege Astin violated federal law by issuing multiple undated prescriptions for controlled substances to unnamed patients. Federal law mandates that such prescriptions be dated and signed on the date they are issued.

It's unclear when Vineyard will make a ruling.

Astin, who has pleaded not guilty, was recently declared financially indigent by the court and appointed a federal defender after his paid attorney quit the case. Astin recently told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he'd already spent roughly $50,000 toward his legal defense and would soon be filing for bankruptcy.

Astin had hoped to pay for his defense by selling several parcels of property, but was unable to do so because of tax liens filed by the federal government.

Unable to work since his arrest, he's had foreclosure notices placed on the rest of his real estate interests, including his Carrollton home and office.