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Like Father, Like Son - Smells Like a Rose


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Son of baseball's hit king turns himself in on drug charges

 

By JOHN GEROME, Associated Press Writer

November 7, 2005

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Pete Rose Jr., the son of baseball's all-time hits leader, surrendered to federal authorities Monday to face charges that he was distributing GBL, a drug sometimes sold as a steroid alternative.

 

The 35-year-old Rose could face a maximum of 20 years in prison. The Drug Enforcement Administration said his arrest was part of a larger investigation into a major GBL trafficking organization.

 

The indictment said Rose admitted he received GBL from a person in Tennessee while a member of the Chattanooga Lookouts, the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds.

 

He also said he supplied half the players on that team with the drug. Rose said his teammates would take GBL to ``wind down'' after games, DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said.

 

GBL, or gamma butyrolactone, is sold under the counter at retailers and gyms with claims to build muscle, improve physical performance, enhance sex, reduce stress and induce sleep. When taken orally, GBL is converted to the ``date-rape'' drug GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyrate.

 

Lookouts assistant general manager John Maedel said Monday the team was aware of the story. ``We don't know anything about it and can't comment,'' he said.

 

Maedel said Rose was on the Chattanooga roster in 1997, 2001 and 2002.

 

Reds spokesman Rob Butcher said: ``We do not comment on active law enforcement investigations.''

 

Rose Jr. has not been involved with the Reds' organization since playing nine games in the minors in 2002.

 

Rose played most of his career in the minor leagues, but made it to the majors for 11 games with the Reds in 1997. Last season he played for the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League.

 

Pete Rose Sr. holds the major league record of 4,256 hits. He agreed to a lifetime ban from baseball in 1989 following an investigation that he bet on games; after 14 years of denying it, he admitted in his autobiography that he bet on Reds games while managing them in the late 1980s.

 

Rose Sr. served a five-month sentence in federal prison in 1990 and 1991 for filing false tax returns by not declaring income he received from signing autographs, memorabilia sales and gambling.

 

The GBL investigation began in 1999 and has included one of the largest seizures of GBL in U.S. history.

 

DEA agents seized about 280 gallons of GBL from a storage unit in Murfreesboro in January 2004. Further investigation revealed that Murfreesboro resident Bruce Michael Wayne was a nationwide distributor of the drug.

 

The DEA learned Wayne was supplying Rose Jr. with the drug and that Rose was distributing it to teammates, Payne said.

 

Wayne was arrested by DEA agents in January 2004 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute GBL and money laundering charges. But Wayne failed to appear for sentencing and is a fugitive.

 

Associated Press writer Bill Poovey in Chattanooga contributed to this report.

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