Law enforcement officers knew man at center of investigation

Saturday, October 2nd 2004, 2:46 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Two law enforcement officers who were arrested on complaints of conspiring to distribute drugs had dealings with a bodybuilder at the center of the investigation, authorities said.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Timothy H. Timmons, 36, and Norman police officer Kyle Ward Sherman, 34, were arrested Thursday and suspended with pay pending internal investigations.

The officers have had contact with Thomas L. Brown, a Norman bodybuilder and personal trainer who has been supplying steroids to several people, including Norman police officers, according to an investigation by a Drug Enforcement Administration drug task force and other metro area officers.

Sherman is the only Norman officer who has been arrested.

In May, the task force began working with the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Lake Area Narcotics Group in Jefferson City, Mo., after Oklahoma City resident Steven K. Clausen was arrested in Missouri with the drug ecstasy and marijuana.

Court records allege Missouri investigators and an undercover DEA officer bought from Clausen, 29, more than $15,000 worth of drugs, including marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, steroids and gamma-hydroxybutyrate _ commonly known as GHB or the date rape drug.

The investigation included those drugs plus methamphetamines and prescription drugs.

Bob Surovec, DEA assistant special agent in charge, said the probe is continuing, and additional arrests may be made.

Surovec said it isn't routine for narcotics agents to investigate illegal steroids.

Investigators obtained court-ordered wiretaps to monitor hundreds of telephone calls.

Some of the calls showed that Timmons and Brown were acquainted. Even though Timmons was aware of Brown's drug dealings, he didn't do anything to stop the illegal drug distribution, authorities allege.

Timmons once asked Brown for Clenbuterol, which isn't an anabolic steroid or a controlled substance. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, however, has banned the substance, records state.

Investigators said in court papers that people who use anabolic steroids will take Clenbuterol to help them burn body fat.

Sherman allegedly ran computer checks on vehicle tag information for Clausen and Brown, records show.

Investigators said Sherman used the computer terminal in his patrol car. Sherman is mentioned on monitored calls and was seen meeting Brown at a Moore gym by surveillance officers, the affidavit states.

Others arrested include Monica K. Hale, 43, the 2001 Miss Oklahoma Bodybuilding champion; Curtis L. White, 24, a former University of Oklahoma baseball pitcher; James Ray Thomas, 54, owner of Fairmed Pharmacy in Newcastle; and Timothy Young, 37, an Oklahoma City chiropractor.