The four law enforcement officers were never charged or fired for illegally ordering steroids.
The Kentucky State Police (KSP) was never going to publicly release the names of the officers who were busted ordering anabolic steroids. KSP did everything they could to keep the information secret. The disclosure was only made possible due to a lengthy investigation by the WDRB News team in Louisville.
KSP troopers Jason Carpenter, Chad Peercy, Jonathan Sizemore, and Sgt. Anthony Trotter ordered anabolic steroids and/or human growth hormone from Tri-Coast Pharmacy in Florida according to an investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017. The four officers were among hundreds of Tri-Coast customers from across the United States.
The KSP troopers never visited the prescribing physician. Unfortunately, obtaining anabolic steroids without a face-to-face visit with the doctor is a felony under Kentucky and federal laws. The FDA notified KSP that the four troopers were illegally obtaining steroids from Tri-Coast Pharmacy.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse – especially when it involves a law enforcement officer.
KSP conducted an internal affairs investigation. All four troopers confessed that they were using anabolic steroids obtained from Tri-Coast Pharmacy. They maintained they were using steroids for what they thought were legitimate therapeutic purposes such as hormone replacement therapy. All four of them pleaded ignorance stating they were unaware that they were violating the law.
“I wish it just wouldn’t have been out of state,” Trotter said. “I wish it had been a regular doctor. I truly thought it was legal.”
“I would not have done it if I knew it was illegal,” Carpenter admitted.
“I would not have went through that much or spent nearly all that money,” Peercy claimed, “if I knew I was gonna get in trouble.”
Rick Sanders, the commissioner of KSP at the time, did not believe the officers were unaware they were breaking the law. Nonetheless, Sanders only issued suspensions rather than terminations. The four troopers were suspended from 60 to 180 days.
Sanders overruled his second in command, former KSP Deputy Commissioner Alex Payne. Payne wanted to fire two of the troopers (Trotter and Peercy).
“Steroid use — or abuse, I should say — has been a dirty little secret in law enforcement for a long time” said Payne. “I mean, to me, no normal, sane person dials 1-800-Jack-me-up or whatever on the internet and then literally takes that for face value and just hammers it into your system with a syringe… especially not a police officer. I mean, you ought to know better.”
Ultimately, three of the troopers resigned (Carpenter, Sizemore, and Peercy). Trotter was demoted but remains employed by KSP.