Store Owner Suspected In Steroid Probe

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The I-Team has learned where some of the steroids that started a federal probe are coming from.

Video: I-Team: Business Owner Suspected In Steroid Probe

The federal investigation is seeking to determine if law enforcement officers have been involved in the illegal sale, manufacture and use of steroids.

The I-Team has also learned how many people may be indicted and why a local businessman is a suspect.

Police officers, state troopers and an athletic trainer have been caught up in the investigation into the use and sale of steroids.

But the I-Team reports that sources inside the investigation said Mark Johnson, the owner of a nutritional supply store in Hermitage, has been named as a suspect in the investigation.

Stephen Reece, who is one of the Metro police officers being investigated, used to co-own the store with Johnson. Reece has been decommissioned during the investigation. He said he severed his ties with the store last year.

"Mr. Reece has absolutely no knowledge of any unlawful activities that occurred in the store while he had ownership interest," said Reece’s attorney Worrick Robinson.

While Johnson said nothing illegal was ever sold out of the store, investigators said they have their doubts.

Johnson confirms that Scott Haines was a customer. Haines, a personal trainer, was arrested and accused of selling steroids out of his car and home.

Investigators said they are looking to find out if Haines ever received steroids from the store and sold them to police in middle Tennessee.

The I-Team reported that it also learned from investigators that some of the steroids are coming from China.

The drugs are manufactured there, investigators said, and supplies have been sent from China to middle Tennessee so the drugs can also be manufactured there.

Though he's been temporarily stripped of his badge and linked to a store suspected of selling the drugs, Robinson said Reece is innocent.

"We really expect after these investigations are finalized that his name will be cleared," Robinson said.

The I-Team also reported that investigators believe dozens of people in middle Tennessee will eventually be indicted in the case, but there is no timetable on when that will happen.

Reece's attorney said that demands from the police department prompted Reece to no longer own the store.

His attorney also said if anything illegal happened after Reece left the store, his client doesn't know anything about it.

Metro and Murfreesboro police officers and state troopers have all been investigated in the steroid probe.