A guy who looks as if he could have been sampling his product and his wife (not so much) were arrested in April by Irvine Police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for allegedly making and distributing steroids illegally.
But bodybuilder Carlos Hernandez, 27, and Roxanne Hernandez, 30, only pleaded guilty Monday to illegally selling the drug, earning a six-month honeymoon in jail (in separate cells, of course).
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Irvine Police announced in April the multi-agency search of the couple's Irvine home “uncovered evidence of an apparent large-scale steroid distribution scheme.” Included was a weapons charge “related to the seizure of several large capacity magazines.”
“There is no higher priority than for us to remove dangerous drugs and illegal weapons from our community,” Irvine Police Chief Dave Maggard said at the time. “We are grateful for the cooperative relationships we have with our partners at Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”
“The underground production and sale of steroids poses a serious health threat,” said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for HSI Los Angeles, in the city-issued release. “These are powerful chemicals under any circumstances, but the risks increase exponentially when you're dealing with homemade counterfeits that are being taken without a doctor's supervision.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel had intercepted two packages at a Bay Area mail screening facility addressed to the couple that were each found to contain approximately four pounds of steroids in powdered form. After arranging a controlled delivery of one parcel, a search warrant was served at the Hernandez home, where equipment and chemicals were found to convert the powdered steroids into liquid form, police said at the time.
Included were said to be 40 vials of a substance thought to be steroids, about 20,000 pills believed to be steroids, adhesive labels, packaging materials and shipping boxes. Also seized were five weapons, including three handguns, a shotgun and a rifle with a several large capacity magazines, along with more than $6,000 in cash.
Police said then they suspected shipments were sent to buyers throughout the U.S. and internationally. But Jack Earley, the attorney for Carlos Hernandez, told City News Service his client was only selling the drugs to other athletes he knew.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert Fitzgerald offered the Hernandezes a plea deal. Carlos Hernandez pleaded guilty to selling a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, possession of an assault weapon and possession for sale of a large capacity magazine, all felonies. He also pleaded guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia and child endangerment, both misdemeanors.
Roxanne Hernandez copped to sale of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, both felonies, as well as misdemeanor child endangerment, which stemmed from not having her children restrained with a seat belt when she was pulled over by police, according to Earley.
With credit for time served, Earley expects the couple to be out of jail by the end of this month or early July.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.