Irvine Doctor Cleared in Case Involving Making of Steroids

Charges were dismissed Friday against an Irvine doctor who was one of seven people arrested in connection with a Fullerton investigation of an operation involving the illegal manufacture of steroids.

The Orange County district attorney’s office announced Monday in West Municipal Court in Westminster that Dr. Val Max Warhaft, 35, had been cleared of three counts of conspiracy in the sale of steroids through a Fountain Valley firm.

The charges resulted from an investigation started a year ago when a Fullerton College football coach suffered an adverse reaction to steroids he allegedly had obtained through a firm called the Fountain Valley Research Laboratory.

Warhaft’s federal drug certificate number allegedly had been used by the defendants to order drugs from out-of-state supply houses. These drugs then were converted into a liquid, injectable steroid, according to Fullerton police investigators.

But Warhaft’s attorney, Paul Meyer of Costa Mesa, argued that the drugs had been bought for the manufacture of steroids without his client’s knowledge. Warhaft contended that he had given one of the co-defendants permission to use his certificate number for some minor medical supplies but not for drugs.

Meyer said the charges filed against Warhaft last May have been hard on him.

“We were delighted with the result,” Meyer said. “We had been working for such a re-evaluation for a number of months. Dr. Warhaft should never have been charged and is completely innocent of all charges.”