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Letter to the editor

Hacker lawsuit incites accused

She denies charges and says the company is linked to illegal steroid dealings.

By SCOTT BARANCIK, Times Staff Writer
Published October 19, 2007

CLEARWATER - Some Web sites get hacked. But a Clearwater company's site was bludgeoned last year, and the motive may have been partly financial.

In a lawsuit filed in Pinellas County, GPZ Services Inc. says that a hacker not only defaced its Web site, but also deleted orders, tried to "lure away" clients, sent offensive e-mails under the company's name, changed key passwords and, in a rare crossover from digital to physical crime, allegedly burglarized GPZ's storage facility at 1650 N Hercules Ave.

GPZ says the hacker was Stefanie Van Riper, 23, of Palm Harbor. Van Riper's Internet account allegedly corresponded with a digital footprint the hacker left behind. The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office acknowledges that its deputies met with her as part of an investigation into the burglary.

But Van Riper says that both the police and GPZ owners Clayton and Manivanh Paschal are merely using her to catch their true suspect, an ex-boyfriend who runs a competing Web site. "It's insane that I'm being singled out, a 23-year-old girl without any link to this other than an Internet Protocol address," Van Riper says.

Van Riper also accuses the Web sites of breaking the law. GPZservices.com, for example, indicates that its syringes, hypodermic needles and other supplies are "for medical, industrial, experimental or veterinary use only!" But Van Riper says it and similar sites are aimed at bodybuilders, some of whom use such equipment to convert raw drugs into injectable liquid steroids.

A review of message boards on bodybuilding sites like elitefitness.com suggests steroid users dopurchase equipment from such sites; GPZservices.com, for example, is mentioned multiple times, as are several other Tampa Bay area Web sites. "It's not a smart idea to buy the raw ingredients from China and then mix it up yourself in the kitchen, but these are some of the things you would use," said elitefitness.com founder George Spellwin, an advocate of legalizing steroids for cosmetic use.

Though all of the items sold on GPZservices.com are technically legal, federal drug paraphernalia laws prohibit their sale to buyers who clearly intend to use them with certain types of drugs, including controlled substances like anabolic steroids. "All packages are sent discreetly," says the shipping page on GPZservices.com.

GPZ's owners and their attorney declined to be interviewed.

Police records indicate Van Riper was arrested three times in 2002, for possession of Valium without a prescription, domestic violence and driving with a suspended license. She says a lawyer could get the GPZ lawsuit quickly dismissed, if she could afford one.

Times researchers Angie Drobnic Holan and Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Scott Barancik can be reached at barancik@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8751.

Federal agents target steroid industry

Last month, federal agents completed the largest steroid sweep in U.S. history, an international effort that targeted manufacturers, laboratories, bodybuilding discussion boards, and Web sites that sell kits for converting raw steroid powder into injectable form.

One of the 124 suspects arrested was Thomas C. Thomsen, a 36-year-old Tampa man who operates a Web site called universalkits.com.

According to the indictment, Thomsen "knowingly" sold drug paraphernalia - including hypodermic needles, syringes and solvents - "primarily designed" for the injection of anabolic steroids. To prove that Thomsen would sell his products to anabolic steroid users, agents had a confidential informant send Thomsen questions about how to use universalkits.com's supplies to convert raw drugs to steroids, the indictment said. Thomsen allegedly answered the questions and went on to process the orders.

Attempts to reach Thomsen, who was released on $50,000 bond, were unsuccessful.

[Last modified October 18, 2007, 22:54:23]