Plantation's Police Chief Breaks Records Laws to Cover for Cops on Steroids

So I called Rothstein, the lawyer and businessman, and the story took an interesting turn. After the police investigation was concluded, both officers left the department to work for Rothstein as bodyguards on his "executive protection team."

Rothstein told me that Alu is assigned primarily to protect his wife, while the other officer has left his employ. The attorney said he couldn't talk at length about the police investigation because of his "intimate" involvement in it, but he gamely fielded some questions.

Mike Gorman

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More About

• Larry Massey
• Joseph Alu
• Scott Rothstein
• Police
• Drugs in Sports

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And he said neither officer had done anything wrong or illegal.

"Had they done anything wrong, they would have been disciplined, they would have been prosecuted," Rothstein told me. "You can't make something out of something that does not exist."

I told him that it appeared that the I.A. investigators had determined that the two officers had indeed violated the department's policy, only to have Massey personally exonerate them.

"I don't remember what the finding was, but I know they were both lawfully prescribed the medication they were taking," Rothstein said.

I asked him what he thought of the use of steroids in general.

"If you're using them for a real medical purpose, they can be great," he said. "They help people who are burn victims, people who have growth issues, people who have hormonal issues. People who are using them illegally, it's bad news. They harm themselves, and they create a dangerous situation for others because of aggression issues."

In the case of Alu, who didn't respond to a request for comment, Rothstein cited the 1995 burn injury. But Alu, I also knew, was a bruiser of a guy, an avid weightlifter. Might he be abusing the drugs? Might the original finding have been correct?

"Just because someone reaches a conclusion doesn't mean they were right," Rothstein said. "Neither of them did anything wrong... The chief did what he believed to be the right thing."

Because Massey kept so much of the case an illicit secret, it's hard to know whether anything was right. But despite the chief's efforts to hide the case, the truth surfaced. And it came from an unlikely source — a police officer accused of abusing steroids.

Next week: The case has implications that stretch across the county.