Canadian doctor faces NY sentencing over meds

[December 16, 2011]  BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- A Canadian sports doctor with a high-profile client list faces up to 18 months in prison when he is sentenced Friday for bringing unapproved and mislabeled drugs into the United States.

Anthony Galea of Toronto is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Buffalo. The healing specialist who has helped Tiger Woods and other star athletes come back from injuries pleaded guilty to a federal charge in July.

In a letter to the judge, Galea said his arrest has had a devastating effect on his status as a sports doctor.

"I truly regret my actions and can assure you that the past two years have had a profound and sobering impact on my life," he wrote Thursday.

Galea wasn't licensed to practice in the United States when he made numerous trips across the border to treat athletes from 2007 to 2009.

The former team doctor for the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts was widely known for a blood-spinning injury treatment, but prosecutors said some patients received human growth hormone (HGH) which is banned by major sports.

During his plea hearing, prosecutors said Galea's patients included NFL linebacker Takeo Spikes and retired running back Jamal Lewis, who were not accused of any use of performance-enhancing drugs.

The New York Mets' Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran also acknowledged talking to federal authorities during the investigation, but said they did not receive HGH. Woods acknowledged being treated by Galea but also said he hadn't received performance-enhancing drugs.

Athletes often sought out Galea for platelet-rich plasma therapy, a treatment used to speed healing that involves extracting blood from patients and re-injecting just the plasma.

Galea became the focus of Canadian and U.S. authorities' attention in September 2009, when his assistant, Mary Anne Catalano, was stopped at the border in Buffalo with a small quantity of human growth hormone, Actovegin, a calf's blood derivative which is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and vials of foreign homeopathic drugs.

[Associated Press; By CAROLYN THOMPSON]

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