Andy Fiedler, a former competitive powerlifter and national-level bodybuilder, was sentenced to five years of probation and 500 hours of community service for his involvement with anabolic steroids. United States District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz also prohibited Fiedler from drinking alcohol and using drugs (steroids) as a condition of his probation. But Fiedler was able to avoid imprisonment.
Fiedler admitted being involved in a conspiracy to obtain and distribute anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (hGH) in a plea agreement submitted on October 14, 2011. Fiedler and three additional co-conspirators were indicted on May 2, 2011 after being targeted by an investigation involving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations (FDA-OCI), the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS). They were prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office in Minnesota.
Fiedler sold undercover federal agents at least 9,670 units of anabolic steroids during controlled purchases in January and February of 2008. However, Fiedler’s attorney minimized the significance of that number.
Craig Cascarano, the defense attorney representing Fiedler, told a local newspaper that the quantity of steroids that Fiedler admitted to distributing was highly misleading. Cascarano suggested that a single vial of injectable steroids could account for a thousand units. That would indicate that Fiedler really only acknowledged selling ten vials of steroids according to Cascarano’s calculations.
Cascarano explained that Fiedler was primarily a user of anabolic steroids and only rarely a seller. The attorney stated that ninety percent of the steroids obtained by Fiedler were also used by him.
“[Andy Fiedler] was definitely a bright star in the sport [and] used steroids because it was in the sport…,” said Cascarano. “Everyone did it. It was in the culture.”
Fiedler was an elite powerlifter who set a world record in the bench press before turning his sights on competing as a bodybuilder in the National Physique Committe (NPC).
Fiedler lifted 810 pounds during a bench press competition sanctioned by the International Powerlifting Association (IPA) in 2004. The 810-pound mark was an IPA world record in the 275-pound weight class. Fiedler became the heaviest person to lift triple his bodyweight in the bench press.
Shortly thereafter, Fiedler moved on to bodybuilding where he gradually advanced to the national-level competitions in the sport. In the months before his arrest for steroid distribution, Fiedler placed fifth in the Super-Heavyweight division at the 2010 NPC Junior National Bodybuilding Championships.
Fiedler gave up being a competitive bodybuilder after his steroid indictment. His attorney reported that Fiedler continues to train in the gym but no longer uses anabolic steroids.
“Andy is trying to put his life back together,” said Cascarano. “As he reflects, he knows it was not a good thing to do.”
Source:
Walsh, P. (October 1, 2012). Onetime Twin Cities world record holder in bench press sentenced for steroids. Retrieved from http://www.startribune.com/local/172116611.html
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