T.J. QuinnMike Fish 11y

Sources: Bosch gave teens PEDs

MLB

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- The clinic operator at the heart of a Major League Baseball investigation provided performance-enhancing drugs to numerous high school students, according to former associates of Tony Bosch and documents obtained by "Outside the Lines."

One former Biogenesis of America employee, Porter Fischer, told "Outside the Lines" he regularly saw 16- and 17-year-old boys come to the clinic, sometimes with their fathers.

Asked what high school athletes were given, Fischer said: "Sports performance packages, which would include HGH, testosterone."

"Outside the Lines" obtained Biogenesis documents in February, and they include the names of 10 Miami-area high school baseball players and dollar amounts next to their names.

One former Biogenesis employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said such packages for young athletes generally relied on HGH and Sermorelin, a drug that stimulates growth hormone release in the body. Packages usually included little or no testosterone because the drug is generally considered not to be useful for performance enhancement in young athletes with naturally high levels.

The source said the young athletes regularly were injected with HGH and other prescription drugs in the Biogenesis office. Bosch is not a licensed physician, and HGH, testosterone and other hormones are not legally approved for use as performance enhancers.

"Outside the Lines" reporters who observed the clinic when it was open frequently saw athletic young men, sometimes with people who looked like their parents, entering and leaving the clinic.

Bosch, who has presented himself as a doctor for years, has been cooperating with Major League Baseball for more than a month, providing information on PED use by 20 to 25 major and minor league players. Milwaukee Brewers star Ryan Braun has accepted a 65-game suspension for his connection to the clinic, and other players, notably Alex Rodriguez, are expected to receive suspensions within the next week or two.

Fischer told "Outside the Lines" that he and associates have identified as Biogenesis clients athletes from the NBA, NCAA, professional boxing, tennis and MMA, in addition to other professional baseball players who have not yet been named.

So far, Bosch, who could not be reached for comment, has not faced criminal charges. He was briefly investigated by the Florida Department of Health this year and received a $5,000 fine. Department of Health officials refused to comment on their investigation.

Two high school players listed in the documents are the sons of Lazaro Collazo, a longtime college pitching coach who worked at the University of Miami. Collazo is also listed in documents with the names of others identified by former Biogenesis employees as couriers for Bosch. Fischer and the other former Biogenesis employee said Collazo brought his sons and other minors to the clinic for treatment.

Reached by "Outside the Lines," Collazo several weeks ago said he never received PEDs from Bosch and that he does not know why his and his sons' names would be in Biogenesis records. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

"I just don't know," he said. "Look, I'm being polite, but you keep asking me things I don't know about. I never got anything from Tony Bosch."

Collazo has been a fixture, although controversial, for decades in the South Florida high school and amateur baseball community. He was the pitching coach at Miami for 17 years before resigning in 2003 in the wake of an NCAA investigation of the baseball program. The focus was on a private sports academy Collazo ran, with allegations that Miami players worked at the camp.

He resigned from a high school coaching job at Gulliver Prep in 2005 after he dropped his pants in the locker room following a loss. According to a Coral Gables police report, Collazo "pointed to his penis, testicles and asked the team if they had a set of these or were they equipped with a vagina."

Collazo, who later coached at the University of Louisville and the University of South Florida, is slated to give a deposition next month as a witness in the MLB case filed in March against Bosch and others. His attorney tried to block the deposition, but a Florida circuit court judge has ruled MLB can depose him.

Parents of other high school students listed in records did not return messages or denied having contact with Bosch.

Two other people identified in the records are Yuri Sucart and his son, cousins of Alex Rodriguez. The elder Sucart was identified as the relative who Rodriguez said had helped him acquire steroids more than 10 years ago when he went to the Texas Rangers.

The younger Sucart, a promising high school player, is listed as a client; his father, identified by numerous Bosch associates as regularly visiting the clinic, is listed along with Collazo as a courier.

Fischer said he was disappointed that law enforcement never pursued a case against Bosch, especially after he told investigators that Bosch had treated minors.

"[Some] of the time I would see some come in by themselves, but most of the time, their parents," he said. "But still, if a 16-year-old person can't tan without their parents' permission, I don't know how in the world it's possible that somebody can get this stuff.

"What kind of parent wants their child taking this kind of stuff?"

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