Steroid dealer who spoke to NFL found dead

A convicted steroids dealer who recently met with NFL security officials and gave them names of players he said bought steroids from him was found shot to death in his home Thursday, police said.

Plano, Texas, police found 35-year-old David Jacobs and 30-year-old Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell dead. Police said both had been shot to death.

Police spokesman Rick McDonald said the officers were making a welfare check after relatives of Earhart-Savell expressed concern about her whereabouts.

Plano detectives aren’t releasing information about whether the deaths were a double homicide or a murder-suicide, whether a weapon was found near the bodies, or any other details, McDonald said.

Jacobs was sentenced to three years’ probation and fined $25,000 on May 1 after pleading guilty last year in federal court in Dallas to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids.

Hank Hockeimer, Jacobs’ attorney, has told the Dallas Morning News that Jacobs then met with NFL security officials in the Dallas area May 21 and gave them names of players he said bought steroids from him.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello offered condolences to the families of Jacobs and Earhart-Savell and said the league was reviewing information provided by Jacobs in two interviews with security officials.

Bill Parcells, the Miami Dolphins vice president of football operations, says that he wants six-time Pro Bowl defensive end Jason Taylor on his team this fall but also tried to eliminate the perception that he deliberately snubbed Taylor during a chance encounter at the team’s headquarters earlier this spring.

“Why wouldn’t you want one of the very best players?” Parcells said. “This thing has kind of taken on a life of its own and a large measure of this ‘rift’ is fabrication.”

GOLF

Bastel and Kane tied for LPGA lead

Emily Bastel and Lorie Kane shot six-under-par 66s and share the first-round lead at the LPGA Championship in Havre De Grace, Md.

Lindsey Wright was a stroke off the pace after posting a 67, followed by five players another shot back.

Lurking close by at 69 was world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa, gunning for her third successive major win. At 70 were Annika Sorenstam and Se Ri Pak.

Boo Weekley shot a five-under 65 to take the first-round lead in the Stanford St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tenn. He closed with a birdie on No. 18 to move a stroke ahead of Tommy Armour III.

Vijay Singh shot a 67. Sergio Garcia and Davis Love III were among a group of seven at 68.

MISCELLANY

Bush’s attorneys seek arbitration settlement

The civil lawsuit against Reggie Bush and his parents has been put on hold until Aug. 1, when a San Diego judge will consider a motion by Bush’s attorneys to settle the case through arbitration.

This latest bout of legal footwork postponed a Thursday deposition of Lloyd Lake, who is suing the New Orleans Saints running back over an alleged business partnership that Lake claims began when Bush was still playing for USC.

NCAA and Pacific 10 Conference officials want to know if Bush received improper benefits from the erstwhile sports marketing agency while in school, which would be a violation of rules. If the former tailback is ruled ineligible, the Trojans football program could face sanctions.

Transcripts from depositions of Lake, Bush and others could play an important role in the investigation.

-- David Wharton

USC sophomore basketball guard Ryan Wetherell is recovering at home in Calgary, Canada, after undergoing surgery last month for a life-threatening condition in his neck.

Wetherell, a 5-foot-11 non-scholarship player, was struggling to breathe after an abscess in his neck placed pressure on an artery in his throat and caused his chest to swell. He was given antibiotics and underwent surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles to have the abscess removed. “The doctor said I would have died if they didn’t find out about it in time,” Wetherell said.

-- Ben Bolch

The California Prep Sports Writers Assn. has selected Eric Sondheimer of The Times as the best columnist circulation 100,000 and above for the second consecutive year.

Mike Tranghese, who presided over the Big East’s expansion from a basketball conference to one of college football’s top-tier leagues, is leaving as commissioner next year.

Indiana University believes there is enough evidence to show former coach Kelvin Sampson provided false and misleading information to investigators, didn’t appropriately monitor his staff and failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance during his 1 1/2 -year tenure at the school.