Fullerton College ‘Friend’ Accused of Steroid Sales

A Fountain Valley man who befriended members of the football team at Fullerton College and convinced coaches he was a training expert and ardent opponent of anabolic steroids was arrested on suspicion of making and selling the drug after a four-month investigation by the FBI and other agencies, police said Friday.

Jeff Feliciano, 35, owner of Fountain Valley Research at 17229 Newhope St., was arrested Thursday after police, armed with search warrants, searched the laboratory, Feliciano’s Fountain Valley home and a warehouse, Fullerton Police Capt. Don Bankhead said.

Police seized unspecified amounts of codeine and steroids, the latter a drug that is illegal to use without a prescription. Bankhead said Feliciano was booked into the Fullerton jail on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance and possession for sale. He was released later Thursday after posting $25,000 bail.

Hal Sherbeck, Fullerton College’s coach for the last 25 years, said Feliciano “told me that he was a professional trainer, that he had worked with some of the Rams. And he told me all the bad things about steroids.”

Bankhead said the investigation into the manufacture and use of the steroids began last September when an informant told Fullerton police that steroids were being used by Fullerton College athletes, primarily players on the football team, the Hornets.

The informant gave police a list of those believed to be supplying the drug to athletes, Bankhead said. Police surveillance “did show that Feliciano had contact at the college and was supplying to people there,” Bankhead said.

While police do not know how many athletes may be involved, Bankhead said, “the informant said a substantial number were.” Some of the players will be interviewed as the investigation continues, he said.

Glenn Thomas, an assistant coach at Fullerton for the last 13 years, said: “I’m aware that the use of steroids has gone on here, but I just stay away from it. I’m not involved with it. I turn my head away when I hear of it.

“There’s not a team in Orange County community college football that hasn’t been touched by this (the use of anabolic steroids).”

Has Known Some Users

John Katnik, Fullerton College’s all-conference center, who will be playing for USC this fall, said Friday: “I’ve known a few guys to use them (anabolic steroids). They’re usually the little guys, the guys who were nothing in high school. They thought it would make them better players.

“The coaches had no idea, they were being used, I’m sure. If Sherbeck found out, the players would be former Hornets.”

At the storage facility in Santa Ana rented by Feliciano, detectives seized two truckloads of manufacturing equipment, supplies, business records and steroids, Bankhead said.

He said that because of information in the records seized, police obtained another search warrant Thursday and searched the home of Dr. Val Max Warhaft, 41 Morning View, Irvine. Officers there found marijuana and a bottle of the drug in liquid form, Bankhead said. Warhaft was not home and had not returned as of Friday, Bankhead said, but will be questioned by detectives when he returns.

Bankhead would not elaborate on any possible connection between Warhaft and Feliciano.

Many Agencies Involved

Other agencies working with the Fullerton Police Department and FBI were the federal Food and Drug Administration, the state Department of Health Services, the state Board of Medical Quality Assurance and the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Bankhead said he expects there will be more arrests.

Detectives will not know how widespread the alleged operation may have been until all of the records that were confiscated have been reviewed, Bankhead said. However, he said, “we definitely know there is more than one person involved--the question is who?” Bankhead added that there was evidence that Feliciano’s lab was shipping the drug to other parts of the state.

FBI spokesman Fred Regan in Los Angeles confirmed that a similar search at a business in San Jose was conducted Thursday, but he would not elaborate other than to say “there are some common denominators between the investigation in San Jose and this one (in Orange County).”

Anabolic steroids are synthetic derivatives of the male hormone testosterone. Some athletes believe the drug helps build muscles.

Side Effects Cited

But some physicians believe steroids can cause such side effects as heart disease, liver disease, arrested growth in juveniles, reduced fertility, swelling of the breasts in males and abnormal hair growth in women.

The drug has been used by physicians in the treatment of such conditions as bursitis, phlebitis and arthritis.

The use of steroids was banned by the International Olympic Committee in 1974.

Sherbeck said he was “dumbfounded” to hear that Feliciano had been arrested. “I just don’t believe it.”

He said Feliciano attended Fullerton football practices “once in a while” last fall and talked to players after practice. Feliciano also lectured the coach about the dangers of using anabolic steroids.

“I spent a couple of hours with him. I asked him to come to my office and he told me about the side effects of steroids, and he told me that any physicians who prescribed them were bad news. He seemed to know what he was talking about, and I believed he was above-board.”

‘A Complete Surprise’

Fullerton College is a two-year community college governed by the North Orange County Community College District. District trustee Barbara Hammerman said news of the arrest and the allegations of steroid use came as “a complete surprise.”

“The district was unaware of any investigation,” she said. “The first I learned of it was today (Friday) when Dr. (James) Kellerman called me and told me of it. He had just learned about it himself; it was our first knowledge of any investigation.”

Kellerman, who is vice chancellor for educational services for the college district, said no hint of steroids had surfaced before Friday. “I’ve talked to Fullerton College President Philip Borst and to the college’s football coach, Hal Sherbeck, and they told me they had no knowledge of the investigation. It’s sort of surprising that the district wasn’t contacted for its support and help,” he said.

Fullerton College, which has a student enrollment of 19,000, has what many believe to be the nation’s best community college football program. Sherbeck is considered the “winningest” community college football coach in the nation with 199 victories.

Fullerton has won three national championships and 15 conference titles during Sherbeck’s tenure, in addition to sending more than 400 players on to four-year schools and several to the National Football League.

Relatively New

There is nothing in existing community college sports regulations in California that specifically prohibits the substances. But officials said Friday that it was simply a matter of oversight.

Use of steroids “is something relatively so new that it’s just never come up,” said Stu Van Horn, director of public information for the Sacramento-based California Assn. of Community Colleges. The association sponsors the Commission on Athletics, which is the two-year colleges’ equivalent of the NCAA in California.

It was first suspected that athletes might be using the synthetic testosterone at the Helsinki, Finland, Olympics in 1952.

Kellerman said he had told Fullerton police on Friday that the college and the district would cooperate to the fullest extent in the ongoing investigation.

Bankhead said Feliciano was not a licensed physician, chemist or pharmacist and that his laboratory was not licensed by the state Health Services Department to manufacture drugs, although he did have a city business license.

Alan Slagle, a spokesman for the Department of Health Services in Sacramento, said the fact that Feliciano did not have a license and that the drug allegedly was used by “lay people” were of paramount concern to the department.

Fears on Usage

Because anabolic steroids are legally available only through a prescription, he said, it should not be sold without the order of a physician. “Prescription drugs are often too toxic for use by the laity because the things you need to know to use the drug properly are not understood. We fear that the drug was being used directly by people that we think were questionable, and it was not administered by a physician.”

He added, “We’re not sure that the product was properly made.”

The FBI was drawn into the investigation because of allegations of “fraudulent and illicit distribution of the drug,” Regan said.

Regan said the use of telephones to distribute of the drug violates federal law. Also, the FBI is investigating whether the drug crossed state lines.

Sherbeck said he had considered implementing a drug-testing program before the 1985 season but decided it was too costly.

“We consulted a professional laboratory, but it would have cost several thousand dollars to start a testing program,” he said. “But testing is obviously something we need to help people stay away from steroids.”

Times staff writer Bill Billiter contributed to this story.