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11:10 AM CDT on Tuesday, June 10, 2008
[SIZE=-1]By JASON TRAHAN and GARY JACOBSON / The Dallas Morning News [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]jtrahan@***BANNED-URL***; gjacobson@***BANNED-URL*** [/SIZE]
Before he killed himself and his girlfriend was shot dead last week, convicted Plano steroids trafficker David Jacobs told The Dallas Morning News that he supplied performance-enhancing drugs to a Cowboys player before and after the 2006 season.
In several conversations since January with reporters at The News , Mr. Jacobs described how he prepared spreadsheets detailing a regimen for special teams player Ryan Fowler. It has previously been reported that Mr. Jacobs told federal investigators he sold to offensive lineman Matt Lehr after he left the Cowboys.
Mr. Jacobs, 35, was found dead Thursday at his Plano home. An autopsy revealed he committed suicide in the same room where his ex-girlfriend, 30-year-old Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell, was shot several times. Her death was ruled a homicide Monday. Friends said Mr. Jacobs was extremely jealous and was upset that she had been seeing other men.
A day after the bodies were found, the NFL wrote Mr. Fowler a letter telling him he faces suspension for violation of the league's anabolic steroid policy. According to his attorney, the letter said there was credible evidence that Mr. Fowler "purchased, used or supplied" banned substances.
The existence of the letter was first reported Monday by ESPN.
"I suspect Jacobs said something which the NFL decided to use to threaten my client," Peter Ginsberg, Mr. Fowler's lawyer, said Monday. The league has given "absolutely no justification" for its action, he said.
"Without any corroboration the NFL is threatening to jeopardize my client's career," Mr. Ginsberg said.
He said he has asked the league for substantiation and it has not responded.
The NFL, Cowboys and the Tennessee Titans, where Mr. Fowler now plays, declined to comment.
Mr. Jacobs spoke to The News about his dealings with Mr. Fowler with the understanding that some details not be immediately published. After his death and after Mr. Fowler's attorney linked the league's action to Mr. Jacobs, The News decided to make some of the information public.
Contract boost
Mr. Jacobs said that with his help, Mr. Fowler, who played in Dallas from 2004 to 2006, went from making $400,000 as a Cowboy to signing a four-year, $11.5 million contract with the Titans, where he was a starting linebacker last season.
"After he got his big contract, he came back, knocked on my door and hugged me," Mr. Jacobs said. "He said, thanks, I just got $12 million."
Mr. Jacobs also divulged this information to federal prosecutors over the last year.
In addition, he turned over text messages, e-mails and other evidence of his dealings with Mr. Fowler and other players to the NFL in recent weeks in an attempt to "clean up" the game.
Earlier this year, Mr. Jacobs said he had sold large amounts of steroids and HGH to another ex-Cowboys player, Matt Lehr, now with the New Orleans Saints.
He said at the time that he was going public because of statements Mr. Lehr's attorney, Paul Coggins, had made questioning his credibility. Mr. Coggins also has said prosecutors told him Mr. Lehr would not be indicted.
Federal officials will only say their steroids investigations are ongoing. Neither Mr. Fowler nor Mr. Lehr has been indicted for any crime.
Police said they found numerous vials and containers of steroids in Mr. Jacobs' home after the deaths Thursday. Mr. Jacobs had said he was no longer using or selling steroids since his operation was dismantled last spring.
Ready to talk
Mr. Jacobs previously told The News he did not want to publicly implicate Mr. Fowler, whom he said was a "nice guy." But he spoke about their dealings extensively with federal authorities after agents shut down his steroids network in spring 2007.
"In conversations with Ryan in private, he's talking about how he felt bad," Mr. Jacobs told The News earlier this year. "He didn't know if it was fair [to take steroids]. Then, when he talked to his buddies ... he found out they were all doing it, so he didn't feel bad anymore."
Mr. Jacobs said he met Mr. Fowler through a Lewisville amateur bodybuilder, Bob Johnson, before Cowboys training camp in 2006.
Mr. Johnson confirmed that. "He just wanted some vitamins," Mr. Johnson said earlier this year. He described Mr. Jacobs as being "sharp as a razor" about nutrition and training.
Mr. Johnson said Mr. Fowler was "real adamant" about being careful not to take anything illegal.
Contacted Monday night, Mr. Johnson said, "I don't believe anything Jacobs said. He died the way he lived his life – always taking somebody down with him."
Mr. Johnson said Mr. Fowler, who was in the last year of his Dallas contract at the time Mr. Johnson put him in contact with Mr. Jacobs, wanted to improve his play so he could get a better contract.
According to Mr. Jacobs, he first met with Mr. Fowler at the player's Lewisville home before the Cowboys opened training camp in 2006.
As they were getting to know each other, Mr. Fowler mentioned that he knew Mr. Lehr. Mr. Jacobs said he pulled out his cellphone and dialed Mr. Lehr in Georgia. He put the phone on speaker, and Mr. Lehr told his former Cowboy teammate how much Mr. Jacobs had helped him.
"I worked with him for quite a few months," Mr. Jacobs said.
Mr. Jacobs said that he and Mr. Fowler didn't work out together. "Mainly we spoke on the phone and via e-mail." Mr. Jacobs said he also "made Fowler take antioxidants and multivitamins."
Mr. Jacobs said that also helped Mr. Fowler heal a post-season shoulder injury.
"Man, I got to get this fixed," Mr. Jacobs remembered Mr. Fowler telling him. "I did for him exactly what I did for myself," Mr. Jacobs said of the regimen he prescribed.
Last year, while a Titan, Mr. Fowler suffered another shoulder injury that required surgery.
The last transaction with Mr. Fowler came after he had gone to the Titans, Mr. Jacobs said.
After he received a sentence of three years' probation May 1 for running what has been described as one of the largest steroids networks in the U.S., Mr. Jacobs told reporters at the courthouse that he wanted to cooperate with the NFL to clear his conscience.
"I just want to make things right," he said. "I got into this to help people, and I want to finish it helping people."
jtrahan@***BANNED-URL***;
gjacobson@***BANNED-URL***
http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedc...owboys/stories/061008dnmetjacobs.3c26b81.html
[SIZE=-1]By JASON TRAHAN and GARY JACOBSON / The Dallas Morning News [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]jtrahan@***BANNED-URL***; gjacobson@***BANNED-URL*** [/SIZE]
Before he killed himself and his girlfriend was shot dead last week, convicted Plano steroids trafficker David Jacobs told The Dallas Morning News that he supplied performance-enhancing drugs to a Cowboys player before and after the 2006 season.
In several conversations since January with reporters at The News , Mr. Jacobs described how he prepared spreadsheets detailing a regimen for special teams player Ryan Fowler. It has previously been reported that Mr. Jacobs told federal investigators he sold to offensive lineman Matt Lehr after he left the Cowboys.
Mr. Jacobs, 35, was found dead Thursday at his Plano home. An autopsy revealed he committed suicide in the same room where his ex-girlfriend, 30-year-old Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell, was shot several times. Her death was ruled a homicide Monday. Friends said Mr. Jacobs was extremely jealous and was upset that she had been seeing other men.
A day after the bodies were found, the NFL wrote Mr. Fowler a letter telling him he faces suspension for violation of the league's anabolic steroid policy. According to his attorney, the letter said there was credible evidence that Mr. Fowler "purchased, used or supplied" banned substances.
The existence of the letter was first reported Monday by ESPN.
"I suspect Jacobs said something which the NFL decided to use to threaten my client," Peter Ginsberg, Mr. Fowler's lawyer, said Monday. The league has given "absolutely no justification" for its action, he said.
"Without any corroboration the NFL is threatening to jeopardize my client's career," Mr. Ginsberg said.
He said he has asked the league for substantiation and it has not responded.
The NFL, Cowboys and the Tennessee Titans, where Mr. Fowler now plays, declined to comment.
Mr. Jacobs spoke to The News about his dealings with Mr. Fowler with the understanding that some details not be immediately published. After his death and after Mr. Fowler's attorney linked the league's action to Mr. Jacobs, The News decided to make some of the information public.
Contract boost
Mr. Jacobs said that with his help, Mr. Fowler, who played in Dallas from 2004 to 2006, went from making $400,000 as a Cowboy to signing a four-year, $11.5 million contract with the Titans, where he was a starting linebacker last season.
"After he got his big contract, he came back, knocked on my door and hugged me," Mr. Jacobs said. "He said, thanks, I just got $12 million."
Mr. Jacobs also divulged this information to federal prosecutors over the last year.
In addition, he turned over text messages, e-mails and other evidence of his dealings with Mr. Fowler and other players to the NFL in recent weeks in an attempt to "clean up" the game.
Earlier this year, Mr. Jacobs said he had sold large amounts of steroids and HGH to another ex-Cowboys player, Matt Lehr, now with the New Orleans Saints.
He said at the time that he was going public because of statements Mr. Lehr's attorney, Paul Coggins, had made questioning his credibility. Mr. Coggins also has said prosecutors told him Mr. Lehr would not be indicted.
Federal officials will only say their steroids investigations are ongoing. Neither Mr. Fowler nor Mr. Lehr has been indicted for any crime.
Police said they found numerous vials and containers of steroids in Mr. Jacobs' home after the deaths Thursday. Mr. Jacobs had said he was no longer using or selling steroids since his operation was dismantled last spring.
Ready to talk
Mr. Jacobs previously told The News he did not want to publicly implicate Mr. Fowler, whom he said was a "nice guy." But he spoke about their dealings extensively with federal authorities after agents shut down his steroids network in spring 2007.
"In conversations with Ryan in private, he's talking about how he felt bad," Mr. Jacobs told The News earlier this year. "He didn't know if it was fair [to take steroids]. Then, when he talked to his buddies ... he found out they were all doing it, so he didn't feel bad anymore."
Mr. Jacobs said he met Mr. Fowler through a Lewisville amateur bodybuilder, Bob Johnson, before Cowboys training camp in 2006.
Mr. Johnson confirmed that. "He just wanted some vitamins," Mr. Johnson said earlier this year. He described Mr. Jacobs as being "sharp as a razor" about nutrition and training.
Mr. Johnson said Mr. Fowler was "real adamant" about being careful not to take anything illegal.
Contacted Monday night, Mr. Johnson said, "I don't believe anything Jacobs said. He died the way he lived his life – always taking somebody down with him."
Mr. Johnson said Mr. Fowler, who was in the last year of his Dallas contract at the time Mr. Johnson put him in contact with Mr. Jacobs, wanted to improve his play so he could get a better contract.
According to Mr. Jacobs, he first met with Mr. Fowler at the player's Lewisville home before the Cowboys opened training camp in 2006.
As they were getting to know each other, Mr. Fowler mentioned that he knew Mr. Lehr. Mr. Jacobs said he pulled out his cellphone and dialed Mr. Lehr in Georgia. He put the phone on speaker, and Mr. Lehr told his former Cowboy teammate how much Mr. Jacobs had helped him.
"I worked with him for quite a few months," Mr. Jacobs said.
Mr. Jacobs said that he and Mr. Fowler didn't work out together. "Mainly we spoke on the phone and via e-mail." Mr. Jacobs said he also "made Fowler take antioxidants and multivitamins."
Mr. Jacobs said that also helped Mr. Fowler heal a post-season shoulder injury.
"Man, I got to get this fixed," Mr. Jacobs remembered Mr. Fowler telling him. "I did for him exactly what I did for myself," Mr. Jacobs said of the regimen he prescribed.
Last year, while a Titan, Mr. Fowler suffered another shoulder injury that required surgery.
The last transaction with Mr. Fowler came after he had gone to the Titans, Mr. Jacobs said.
After he received a sentence of three years' probation May 1 for running what has been described as one of the largest steroids networks in the U.S., Mr. Jacobs told reporters at the courthouse that he wanted to cooperate with the NFL to clear his conscience.
"I just want to make things right," he said. "I got into this to help people, and I want to finish it helping people."
jtrahan@***BANNED-URL***;
gjacobson@***BANNED-URL***
http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedc...owboys/stories/061008dnmetjacobs.3c26b81.html
