2 Indicted in Hormone-Sales Case

A Sacramento-area bodybuilder and a Carmel man have been charged with distributing a genetically engineered human growth hormone, a drug increasingly sought by top athletes as a non-detectable substitute for anabolic steroids.

William E. Cambra Jr., 31, of Carmichael and James V. Sorrano, 29, of Carmel were named in the 12-count indictment filed Wednesday in San Diego federal court. The indictment also included charges of conspiring to sell the synthetic hormone, distributing steroids and distributing counterfeit steroids.

The charges were the first by federal prosecutors involving the distribution of the synthetic hormone, an expensive drug prescribed only for children with growth deficiencies but in increasing demand among world-class athletes seeking to pass drug tests, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Phillip L. B. Halpern of San Diego.

The indictment was unsealed after the arrest of Cambra Wednesday morning in Carmichael, a Sacramento suburb. Known nationally as a bodybuilder and owner of a Carmichael gym, Cambra was being held pending a bail hearing today in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, Halpern said. Police are searching for Sorrano.

If convicted, both face up to 38 years in prison and $3 million in fines. Cambra ran a national network that distributed large amounts of the synthetic hormone and bogus anabolic steroids, the indictment alleges.

The hormone substitute costs between $600 and $1,200 per dose on the black market, Halpern said.

“Because of that it’s not used by every Tom, Dick and Harry who wants to use steroids,” he said. “Only top-level athletes, be they bodybuilders, track and field, etc., would want to use human growth hormone.”

The hormone is so hard to detect under the drug tests given to athletes, Halpern said, that “if you took it in the last Olympics, it would not have been caught.”

The hormone is the compound Olympic gold medalist Florence Griffith Joyner recently was accused of taking.