Lawyer expects indictments at Mobile pharmacy

Updated: March 5, 2007, 3:29 PM ET

By Mike Fish | ESPN.com

While six Florida residents pleaded not guilty Monday in an Internet scheme to distribute steroids, the attorney representing top officials of a Mobile, Ala., pharmacy told ESPN.com that he believes his clients have also been indicted under seal in Albany, N.Y.

Michael Koenig, who represents Sam Kelley, Applied Pharmacy Services founder and chairman of the board, and his cousin, Jason Kelley, the company's CEO, said his clients will turn themselves in once charges are brought against them.

"Given my experience as defense attorney and from what I have heard and seen, it certainly would seem to me that my clients are under indictment in Albany," said Koenig, a former federal prosecutor. "No one has officially told me that, but certainly I have heard enough from a variety of different sources that leads me to believe they are under indictment.

"They are ready, willing and able to voluntarily turn themselves in if and when directed to do so. I am fully prepared to have them brought to court. I just need to know a time and place if, in fact, they are under indictment, as does appear to be the case from what we see."

Federal DEA agents and inspectors with the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy raided the Mobile facility in August 2006, attorneys for Applied Pharmacy confirmed Monday. Taken in the raid, attorneys said, were copies of business records and computer files.

Eddie Braden, a Mobile-based inspector for the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy, confirmed that the state board took part in the raid, adding, "We've been involved with it for some time."

Under Alabama regulations, pharmacies must be open for walk-on customers, though authorities said the Mobile pharmacy didn't cater to that type of consumer.

"It is a pharmacy that has a mail-order-type license with us also," Braden said. "And mail order is their primary focus."

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney in Mobile has said a federal investigation of Applied Pharmacy remains ongoing, even while the district attorney in Albany has moved forward with indictments. The warrant issued for the August search, as well as the documents and property seized, remain under seal in Mobile district court.

A federal grand jury in Mobile convenes later this month.

Mike Fish is an investigative reporter for ESPN.com. He can be reached at michaeljfish@gmail.com.