Tiger Woods not part of investigation of physician
No evidence he used performance drugs
Published: December 18, 2009, 12:30 am
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No evidence has surfaced linking Tiger Woods to the use of performanceenhancing drugs, sources close to an investigation involving a Toronto doctor told The Buffalo News on Thursday.
Two of those sources said other professional athletes — but not Woods — could potentially wind up in trouble as a result of the federal investigation of Dr. Anthony Galea of Toronto.
“I know of nothing that has come up in this investigation that would indicate Tiger Woods was using [performanceenhancing drugs], and I know of nothing that would put him into any trouble with law enforcement,” said one source close to the probe.
While Woods faces damaging fallout from recent revelations that he cheated on his wife with an assortment of mistresses, no evidence from the Galea investigation indicates that he cheated in his bodybuilding regime with steroids or human growth hormone drugs, four sources close to the investigation told The News.
“Tiger is getting kind of a bad rap with all the publicity on this investigation,” one of the sources said. “The treatment he got from [Galea] was treatment for his knee injury.”
The one source who did not insist on anonymity was Buffalo defense attorney Mark J. Mahoney, who represents Galea.
Mahoney said Galea has never been involved in the “doping” of Woods or any other athlete he has treated.
“[Galea] has not been doping any athletes, and nobody in the government thinks he has been,” Mahoney said. “He’s into human tissue repair for athletes and other people who are trying to recover from injuries. He’s not into performance enhancement for athletes.”
Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, did not return calls from The News on Thursday. He was quoted as telling the Associated Press earlier this week that any suggestion that Woods did anything illegal would be “recklessly irresponsible.”
Publicly, Woods has been an outspoken supporter of drug testing for golfers who compete on the Professional Golfers Association tour.
Galea, 51, is the subject of high-profile investigations in both Canada and the United States. His former assistant, Mary Anne Catalano, 32, faces a federal smuggling charge after she was caught at the Peace Bridge in September with drugs in her car.
Catalano has been cooperating with an ongoing investigation by Buffalo agents from U. S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, the FBI and the U. S. Food & Drug Administration.
According to court papers, Catalano has told federal agents that her boss, Galea, asked her to transport the drugs over the Peace Bridge into the United States because he had run into problems transporting them in the past.
U. S. Customs&Border Protection officers reported that, among the items found in her car were a quantity of Nutropin, a human growth hormone that is sometimes used by athletes to increase muscle-building potential.
Federal agents have since learned details of Galea’s treatment of Woods and more than a dozen other professional athletes, sources close to the case said.
U. S. Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter said she could not discuss Mahoney’s statements regarding Galea, Woods or anyone else.
“We’re not going to comment on an ongoing investigation,” she said. “All I’m going to tell you is that it is ongoing. It hasn’t been concluded yet.”
Catalano, who lives near Toronto, was arrested at the Peace Bridge on Sept. 14. Her Buffalo attorney, Rodney O. Personius, said he could not comment on the case.
So far, no charges have been placed against Galea in the U. S. investigations, but he faces legal trouble in his homeland.
In Toronto, Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigators this week charged Galea with smuggling, conspiracy and selling an unapproved drug, Actovegin. Through attorneys, Galea has denied any allegations of wrongdoing.
“The Canadian investigation is centering on the doctor smuggling Actovegin into and out of Canada,” Marc La-Porte, a spokesman for the RCMP, told The News on Thursday. “It’s not centering on any specific athletes.”
Mahoney said Galea uses Nutropin and other drugs “to improve the healing of tissue for his patients, not for doping his patients.” He said Woods received treatment from the Toronto doctor while trying to recover from a knee injury.
At times, Galea has used human growth hormones to help in the healing of injuries, Mahoney said. “But you can quote me categorically as saying that nothing he does has remotely to do with doping athletes.”
Speaking Thursday at a news conference in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., PGA President Tim Fincher said he sees “no reason to have a concern” about the Galea investigations.
Fincher said Woods has been a “100 percent” supporter of the PGA’s “vigorous testing program” for performance-enhancing drugs.
According to federal court papers, 20 vials and 76 ampules of “unknown misbranded drugs, including Nutropin,” were found in Catalano’s car after it was stopped for a secondary search on the Peace Bridge.
One hundred and eleven syringes, a diagnostic ultrasound computer, a laptop computer and other medical equipment were also found in the car, authorities said.
According to court papers, Catalano also told federal agents the following:
• Her employer told her that, if she was caught with the substances in her car, she should tell police that she was taking them to a medical conference; that the substances would not be used on patients.
• She was aware that her employer had no license to administer medications in the United States.
• Her employer asked her to transport the substances over the border because he had run into problems trying to transport them on previous occasions.
dherbeck@buffnews.com
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