A Turlock attorney and body builder will be spending the next nine months in prison after being sentenced for trafficking in illegal steroids from China.
A U.S. District Court judge sentenced Erik Harald Moje, 40, to nine months in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release for importing raw anabolic steroids from China, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Moje entered a guilty plea in federal court to unlawfully importing anabolic steroids in February.
The court records show that Moje unlawfully purchased and obtained anabolic steroids from a supplier in China from Dec. 1, 2013 to Sept. 1, 2015. Anabolic steroids are synthetically produced variants of the naturally occurring male hormone testosterone. They are regulated under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule III controlled substance and may not be possessed lawfully in the United States without a prescription.
Investigators found encrypted emails of shipment documents and the purchasing money being deposited into the bank account for the Law Office of Eric Moje. According to the Department of Justice, Moje routed shipments of steroids through a UPS mail-forwarding service in New York, as well as private citizens in other parts of the country.
In May 2015, agents intercepted one of Moje’s parcels that contained one kilogram of steroids, which equates to 40,000 dosage units.
In September 2015, the agents executed a search warrant at Moje’s Turlock residence, where they found a large quantity of steroids. Behind a false wall in the garage, they found 538 10milliliter vials containing liquid anabolic steroids, which equates to 10,760 dosage units, and 17,700 steroid capsules, which equates to 17,700 dosage units. They also seized $29,925 in cash from the residence.
In sentencing Moje, Judge Dale A. Drozd ordered the forfeiture of Moje’s residence. Also forfeited were: $29,925 in cash found during the search of the residence, a 2011 BMW 750Li, and 11 firearms.
The State Bar of California’s website states Moje is no longer eligible to practice law in the state.
The case was the result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation. The case was also part of Operation Cyber Juice, a nationwide initiative targeting domestic and international steroid trafficking organizations. Agencies involved in this investigation included the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Turlock Police Department and the Modesto Police Department.
