Galea Assistant’s Loyalty May Be Key for Doctor
Catalano would drive across the United States border, a stash of human growth hormone and other drugs and medical supplies in her car. Galea, not licensed to practice medicine in the United States, would treat his injured athletes — Tiger Woods, Alex Rodriguez and the Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, among others — in hotel rooms or their homes. But before Galea would meet with <a href="http://newerahatstock.com/bape-hat-c-10.html"><strong>bape hat</strong></a> the athletes, Catalano would pack his medical kit, complete with the drugs involved in that session’s treatment. “When they took trips to the United States, Ms. Catalano would prepare Dr. Galea’s bag for each visit with an athlete,” Calvin Barry, a lawyer for Catalano, said recently. “She was his full-fledged assistant.” Now, Catalano, 33, who first worked for Galea when she was 15, will be sentenced Monday in United States District Court in Buffalo. She began cooperating with federal investigators — United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Food and Drug Administration <a href="http://newerahatstock.com/red-bull-hat-c-15.html"><strong>red bull hat</strong></a> and the F.B.I. — right after being detained at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo on Sept. 14, 2009. Catalano had been driving to Washington with unlawful medical goods in a duffel bag to meet Galea to treat an athlete there. There is little doubt that the help Catalano has provided to the United States government was instrumental in getting Galea, 51, to plead guilty on July 6 to a felony charge of bringing misbranded and unapproved drugs into the United States. Galea, a father of seven children who has used H.G.H. on himself and who has his practice at the Institute of Sports Medicine Health and Wellness Center in Etobicoke, Ontario, is scheduled to be sentenced in October. The trove of detailed patient information that Catalano has been privy to should, then, help authorities determine which professional athletes received what drugs and treatments from Galea, and whether those athletes have been truthful with federal investigators over the nearly two years of their inquiry. Galea’s Denial Galea has maintained that while he has treated some of his patients with H.G.H., he never used performance-enhancing drugs on the professional athletes who had enlisted him to help them recover from injuries. Federal prosecutors have made it clear that they want Galea to be more forthcoming. Indeed, following Galea’s plea, prosecutors said that he would be required to cooperate with the government until his sentencing. What they expect from him are details about his treatment of specific athletes in the United States, information that prosecutors say could result in charges against athletes <a href="http://newerahatstock.com/gucci-hat-c-7.html"><strong>gucci hat</strong></a> who may have lied to federal investigators or a grand jury. Galea, who made dozens of trips to the United States from 2007 through September 2009 to care for prominent athletes with a variety of blood treatments, faces a maximum of three years in prison, but he could get significantly less depending on his level of cooperation and other factors. As a result of Catalano’s help, prosecutors, in court papers this month, asked United States District Judge Richard Arcara to give Catalano only probation and no time behind bars. In June 2010, Catalano pleaded guilty to a felony <a href="http://www.xinzhouba.com/view.php?id=17260"><strong>Kelley Harrell: The New Old Treatise on Soul Retrieval</strong></a> charge of making false statements to federal officers at the Peace Bridge and faces a potential sentencing range of six to 12 months in prison. “The cooperation of Mary Anne Catalano was a significant and substantial factor in obtaining a felony conviction against Dr. Anthony Galea,” Assistant United States Attorney Paul Campana wrote in his motion. Campana also noted that “due in large part to Ms. Catalano’s continued cooperation,” a federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment last October, charging Galea with conspiracy, smuggling, two offenses relating to drugs that were misbranded and unapproved and aiding and assisting in the making of false statements to federal officers.
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