A patrol officer with the Lake County Sheriff’s Department has been accused of operating a possible anabolic steroid laboratory in his apartment. Gary Pilipovich faces charges of possession of Schedule III controlled substances, manufacturing of a controlled substance and possession of hypodermic needles based on the discovery of steroid paraphernalia during the execution of a search warrant of his apartment by the Porter County Drug Task Force on Friday, June 8, 2012.
Authorities were tipped off to Pilipovich’s involvement with steroids by the apartment manager of Willow Creek Estates in Portage, Indiana. She photographed steroid books, vials, burners, hypodermic needles and other steroid paraphernalia and turned them over to police. This information precipiated the Friday search for steroids.
The manager claimed that she entered Pilipovich’s apartment to investigate claims by the tenant that the property was contaminated with mold.
The discovery of the steroid lab appears to be the basis for a forced eviction notice by the Willow Creek Estates. Officers from the Portage Police Department were called by the apartment’s management to monitor the eviction on Tuesday, June 12, 2012. Police observed a bag of suspected marijuana in plain view. After obtaining a search warrant, they also found rock cocaine, Vicodin, Adderall and Xanax.
Pilipovich was an amateur competitive bodybuilder who once indicated that he hoped to become a professional bodybuilder one day on his Bodybuilding.com BodySpace profile page. However, Piliovich had fallen upon hard times after he was recently diagnosed with cancer. He had been on sick leave from the Lake County Sheriff’s Department for four months while undergoing cancer treatment. During his recovery from cancer treatment, he complained about the allegedly moldy apartment. The complaints precipitated management’s call to the police.
Now in addition to continued cancer treatment and the search for a new apartment, Polopovich faces several felony criminal drug possession charges and has been suspended from his job according to Lake County Sheriff John Buncich.
Source:
Wolf, J. (June 14, 2012). Drug charges filed against Lake County cop after second search. Retrieved from http://posttrib.suntimes.com/13188956-537/drug-charges-filed-against-lake-county-cop-after-second-search.html
