Investigators used the Ft. Bend County Fairgrounds as the command post to round up all the people being arrested. There were 66 arrests by 6pm Wednesday. And that's just in the greater Houston area. More are likely coming.
Authorities say the arrests were all in one way or another connected to a gym or fitness center. Our cameras caught employee George Rincon being busted at the LA Fitness on Highway 6 and Bissonnet Wednesday morning. And we later learned Rincon is the general manager there. No one was willing to comment when we asked for a statement from LA Fitness.
Investigators say he was a distributor, that he and others helped bring chemicals into the country to make and sell hundreds of thousands of doses of anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, ecstasy and other illegal drugs.
"This was and is a loosely-knit organization," said Ft. Bend County Sheriff Milton Wright. "They have no formal organizational parts. It's one of those things where they got their friends on speed dial and if they need a certain product, they know who to call."
Fort Bend County Sherriff Milton Wright says these arrests destroy that drug trafficking network.
The investigation started more than two years ago during another drug bust in Fort Bend County. Information garnered when these substances were seized led ultimately to the arrests Wednesday. And those are not yet over. More are being made in California, Lousiana, Georgia and Indiana.
"In a very strong way, we are sending a message to the criminal element that law enforcement will actively investigate those criminal organizations in business of manufacturing and selling steroids and illegally diverting prescription drugs into the abuse market," said Zoran Yankovich with the Drug Enforcement Agency.
A Sugar Land business owner, Charles Brock Folkenhagen, is named by the U.S. Attorneys Office as lead defendant in this case. He's accused of importing chemicals from as far away as China for this operation.
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