Patriot's Rodney Harrison suspended for growth hormone (HGH) use

The worldwide leader reports tonight, that the New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison faces a 4 game NFL suspension.  Harrison apparently scored HGH from a Florida pharmacy involved in the Florida bust.  Those names now seem to be trickling out to the media.

In a late Friday night conference call, Harrison acknowledged the suspension, which he said will be announced on Saturday.

"I want to make it clear," Harrison said, "that never once did I take steroids. I did admit to the commissioner that I took a banned substance."

Harrison said that his actions stemmed from his desire to "accelerate the healing process" from his various injuries the past two seasons.

As noted in our post today on the WWE, they Florida formulating pharmacies dispensed steroids and HGH through the Internet.  Albany prosecutor David Soares led a multi-agency team that busted those pharmacies last spring.  Since then, information slowly trickled out about athletes caught in the distribution web.

The list of pro wrestlers released this morning contained some surprises.  Now, Harrison's involvement constitutes a huge surprise.  Not once did his name come up in the spring information about this PED distribution network.  The Patriots player must have come to light to the NFL, which followed up last week.

Earlier this week, NFL quarterback Tim Couch stood accused of HGH and steroid use.  Doping control authorities cannot test for HGH in urine nor blood, thus the NFL must rely on eye-witness accounts, or medical/pharmaceutic records.  Nonetheless, the NFL is bordering on an HGH problem (also noted here)

Harrison had a hearing with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday, the sources said.

A league spokesman said Friday the NFL will not comment on the Harrison case. A Patriots source told ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli that the team is aware of the sanction against the 13-year veteran and is "dealing with it." The team source declined to say when the Patriots became aware of Harrison's involvement.

Harrison used the conference call to apologize to team officials and to his teammates, and to caution young people against using performance enhancers.

"I've made no excuses and I will not make excuses," Harrison said. "I sent the wrong message with my actions. This is a mistake and this is something that I've done."

ESPN discusses other problems that might arise in the NFL, as well as background on Harrison.

League sources confirmed to ESPN and ESPN.com that at least one NFL assistant coach has also been questioned in recent months by investigators as part of the probe. Sources said that the coach remains a person of interest in the investigation.

The Albany (N.Y.) Times-Union reported earlier this year that an unnamed NFL team physician used a personal credit card to purchase $150,000 in testosterone and HGH last year. The physician told investigators the drugs were for legitimate prescriptions.

The admission by Harrison has not been made public, but his name was among those known to federal and New York officials conducting a large-scale investigation into an Internet pharmaceutical distribution ring for steroids and other performance enhancers, such as HGH.

The investigation was instigated by the Albany County district attorney, and involved New York Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement agents and an Orlando, Fla,-based federal task force. In February, state and federal agents and representatives from other law enforcement entities raided two Signature Pharmacy outlets in Orlando, and several Florida clinics alleged to have supplied prescriptions for performance enhancers to professional athletes.

Also, the owners of Applied Pharmacy Services in Mobile, Ala., which is alleged to have provided performance enhancing drugs to athletes were indicted in Albany County.

As part of the Florida and Alabama raids, it is believed that investigators discovered the names of several athletes, but it is not known if Harrison was among them.

Earlier this year, Albany County district attorney David Soares said that he would provide the NFL, Major League Baseball and any other leagues the names of players believed to have made purchases through the alleged distribution ring.

NFL and Major League Baseball officials subsequently traveled to Albany to meet with Soares and other investigators.

Comments

[Luke]

I really don't think he used HGH... Maybe to heal his injuries. But not just to get stronger...

[teve]

patriots are the #1 team in the nfl