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Rottens Pimp
- May 24, 2011
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A Woodlands man is in the Harris County Jail after the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit arrested him Wednesday night for allegedly manufacturing illegal steroids to sell at local gyms.
The SIU arrested Matthew Emilio Montano, 29, who officers describe as a “key player” in a large operation manufacturing and distributing illegal human growth hormones in Montgomery and Harris counties.
“It’s not a small-scale operation,” said Lt. Phillip Cash, who heads the SIU. “They’re getting chemicals from Mexico and China. ... You don’t really know what you’re getting. They’re making counterfeit labels to attach to bottles to make it appear these are manufactured in legitimate labs.
“These are backyard chemicals and they’re not made in a clean lab.”
The SIU, assisted by the Houston Police Department’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas drug squad and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, arrested Montano at a Woodlands residence that Cash said was Montano’s parents’ address.
Montano was arrested after delivering 56 vials of liquid steroids to the SIU at a shopping center in Spring, Harris County. His arrest is part of an ongoing investigations targeting those making and selling the steroids, Cash said.
The SIU seized several pounds of illegal steroids and the equipment used to make it in November last year at a home in the 29000 block of West Pecos River Court, off Rayford Road in South Montgomery County.
The drugs being sold, which are typically injected, are affecting high school and college students who buy them, Cash said.
“It’s going into gyms, and (high school students) do go into these places,” he said. “It’s something they crave and there’s a market for it.”
The use of human growth hormone, a naturally occurring hormone secreted by the pituitary gland, is associated with several adverse effects, including edema, carpal tunnel syndrome, joint pain, muscle pain and abnormal skin sensations such as numbness and tingling, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.
It also may increase the growth of pre-existing malignant cells and increase the possibility of developing diabetes.
The SIU arrested Matthew Emilio Montano, 29, who officers describe as a “key player” in a large operation manufacturing and distributing illegal human growth hormones in Montgomery and Harris counties.
“It’s not a small-scale operation,” said Lt. Phillip Cash, who heads the SIU. “They’re getting chemicals from Mexico and China. ... You don’t really know what you’re getting. They’re making counterfeit labels to attach to bottles to make it appear these are manufactured in legitimate labs.
“These are backyard chemicals and they’re not made in a clean lab.”
The SIU, assisted by the Houston Police Department’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas drug squad and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, arrested Montano at a Woodlands residence that Cash said was Montano’s parents’ address.
Montano was arrested after delivering 56 vials of liquid steroids to the SIU at a shopping center in Spring, Harris County. His arrest is part of an ongoing investigations targeting those making and selling the steroids, Cash said.
The SIU seized several pounds of illegal steroids and the equipment used to make it in November last year at a home in the 29000 block of West Pecos River Court, off Rayford Road in South Montgomery County.
The drugs being sold, which are typically injected, are affecting high school and college students who buy them, Cash said.
“It’s going into gyms, and (high school students) do go into these places,” he said. “It’s something they crave and there’s a market for it.”
The use of human growth hormone, a naturally occurring hormone secreted by the pituitary gland, is associated with several adverse effects, including edema, carpal tunnel syndrome, joint pain, muscle pain and abnormal skin sensations such as numbness and tingling, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.
It also may increase the growth of pre-existing malignant cells and increase the possibility of developing diabetes.
