Johnson’s Supplier Arrested
A doctor who admitted providing steroids for sprinter Ben Johnson and other athletes was arrested at an airport on drug warrants.
Jamie Astaphan was arrested Saturday by Drug Enforcement Administration agents after his Toronto-bound plane from Antigua was diverted to John F. Kennedy Airport because of bad weather, DEA spokesman John Dowd said.
Astaphan was wanted on two federal warrants, one from Buffalo for importation and distribution of steroids, the other from Tampa, Fla., for conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and cocaine, according to Jason Brown, a lawyer with the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn.
Astaphan, 47, will be held in New York for several weeks until he can be transferred to Buffalo, Brown said.
He was arrested after the FBI attache in Barbados notified the DEA that he was aboard the plane.
Johnson set a world record while winning the gold medal in the 100-meter dash at the 1988 Olympics, but was stripped of the record after testing positive for steroids.
In 1991 in Toronto, Astaphan admitted giving steroids to runners.
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