Four boxes of human growth hormone have gone missing from Bergen County’s juvenile detention center in Paramus, but county officials are saying little about it.
Employees of the juvenile detention facility reported the steroids — valued at $2,500 — missing last month from a refrigerator inside the lockup.
“We have police investigating the matter,” county spokesman Brian Hague said today. The drugs have not been recovered, Hague said.
County officials have declined to release the county police report of the incident, despite a public-records request. Officials cited an “ongoing criminal investigation” as the reason, as well as health privacy concerns.
Hague also declined to say whether the human growth hormone was kept under lock at the East Ridgewood Avenue jail — and, if so, how many employees have access to the keys.
County police responded to a call of “possible theft” at the juvenile detention facility on the morning of March 28, when employees found the drugs missing, officials said.
Employees told police that four boxes — about 28 doses — of Humatrope, a brand name injectable human growth hormone, had disappeared. The medication was being used for an inmate’s medical condition.
Human growth hormone is a natural substance that fuels growth during childhood and helps maintain tissues and organs in adulthood. It is also sold as a prescription drug for short children whose.
The use of human growth hormone, or HGH, among athletes was a key finding in former Sen. George Mitchell’s report for Major League Baseball, which was released on Dec. 13.
The report said that players who used it believed it helped them recover from injuries and fatigue. They also believed it made them stronger.
source: http://www.northjersey.com/news/aroundnj/Steroid_stolen_from_Bergen_detention_center.html
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