Schweidler Sentenced for $2.25M Steroid Ring

GRIMY TIMES EXCLUSIVE: Aaron Vincent Schweidler, a former resident of Weston, Missouri, has been handed a four-year federal prison sentence for orchestrating an online anabolic steroids distribution ring that netted $2.25 million.

The 32-year-old from Smithfield, North Carolina, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Kays without parole, and ordered to forfeit the ill-gotten gains along with his residence in North Carolina.

Schweidler pleaded guilty on November 7, 2016, to participating in a conspiracy to manufacture and distribute anabolic steroids and to money laundering. He was the head of an Internet-based operation called Power Trip, which sold steroids to customers across the United States, including minors and athletes.

The ring employed sophisticated methods to conceal transactions, using stolen identities to obtain debit cards for payments and directing customers to send funds via MoneyGram and Western Union. Schweidler’s operation began in 2011, with initial activities occurring in Utah before being moved to North Carolina and later to the Kansas City area of Missouri.

Co-defendants Nicole R. Lyne of Smithfield, North Carolina; Michael G. Peters of Pelham, New Hampshire; and Samuel C. Miller IV of Annapolis, Maryland, have also entered guilty pleas and await sentencing.

During his plea agreement, Schweidler admitted to personally sending over $176,000 in drug proceeds to China for raw materials to manufacture anabolic steroids. The estimated dosage units of steroids involved in the conspiracy exceed 60,000 units, based on recovered notes detailing steroid recipes.