Drug peddler gets 10 years
Perrysburg man made, sold anabolic steroids in home
2/26/2011
While attorney Adrian Cimerman takes notes, Greg Kreuz, 39, left, listens as Judge Alan Mayberry lectures Kreuz during his sentencing in Wood County County Common Pleas Court.
Friday, Kreuz, 39, was sentenced to 10 years behind bars by Wood County Common Pleas Judge Alan Mayberry for committing the very same crimes in his Perrysburg home. He may apply for early release after serving six years in prison.
"Everybody makes mistakes, but if you don't learn from your mistakes, then you're doomed to repeat them, and you've done exactly that here," Judge Mayberry told Kreuz. "You've done a lot of damage to a lot of people — all for money, all for things, and someday, hopefully… you learn a lesson from this."
Kreuz pleaded no contest last month and was found guilty on two counts of aggravated possession of drugs and one count each of illegal manufacture of drugs, possession of drugs, and of trafficking in drugs. As part of the plea agreement, an additional charge of aggravated possession of drugs and a specification that alleged he manufactured steroids within the vicinity of a juvenile or school were dismissed.
Also as part of the agreement, Kreuz did not have to pay any fines but agreed not to contest forfeiture of more than $45,000 in cash, a 2008 Lincoln Navigator, a 2001 Dodge Caravan, and various computer equipment — all seized from his home during searches by police.
Kreuz was arrested last summer after Perrysburg police raided his Coe Court home and charged him with manufacturing his own brand of steroids that he sold with labels he printed at home. Police found pills used to manufacture steroids, vials, and cash hidden behind panels in the stairs and walls, along with Oxycontin, Ritalin, and steroids.
Gwen Howe-Gebers, chief assistant Wood County prosecutor, said Kreuz told the probation department during a presentence investigation that he didn't sell steroids to a lot of people, but she told the court evidence from the Fulton and Wood county investigations indicated he supplied several weightlifters.
"He obtained the chemicals illegally from China, transported them to and from different places, and in fact during the search warrant we located a box already packaged for distribution hidden in his dryer," she said. "For him to have $45,000 in cash and all of the toys — and I use that ‘toys' because the items the police seized were brand-new, paid for with cash — to say that he was not trafficking, the state finds difficult if not preposterous to believe."
Ms. Howe-Gebers had asked the court to impose a much stiffer sentence — 18 to 22 years — saying Kreuz did not think what he had done was a big deal, that it had not hurt anyone but himself, and that he was sorry only that he had gotten caught.
"He is a conniving, manipulative, nonremorseful criminal who got caught," Ms. Howe-Gebers said. "And that's all he's remorseful for."
Kreuz, for his part, told the court he had let his children and other family members down.
"I just don't know how I'm ever going to be able to rekindle these relationships," he said. "I tried to tell my children, I tried to explain to them that I'm not a bad person. ‘You're not bad. You're our dad.' I let them down. I let everybody down."
His attorney, Adrian Cimerman, told the court Kreuz probably had not served a long enough sentence from the Fulton County conviction but asked for a prison term in this case that would "leave open the possibility" for rehabilitation and possible judicial release.
"Certainly this is something, having happened twice, I would be shocked if Mr. Kreuz ever engaged in this type of activity again," he said.
After imposing the 10-year sentence, Judge Mayberry denied a request from Mr. Cimerman to set an appeal bond that would have allowed Kreuz to remain free while an appeal is pending.
"Given the nature of this criminal enterprise as well as the information the court has about items perhaps being secreted away during the pendency of this case, I feel it's important he begin to serve his sentence today," the judge said.
Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-724-6129.