Written by Rick Collins, Esq.
29 March 2019

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The Musclehead320_ Bust: The Untold Story

 

“During the days leading up the raid I had an uneasy feeling in my gut. I knew something was wrong, but I was hoping my gut instincts were off the mark. I was done with the business. Done selling steroids. I was in the middle of sealing a deal on a home in Florida. I was leaving Massachusetts and the underground lab business behind. I was ready to start a new life.

 

“It was 6:00 a.m. My new son was three weeks old and asleep in his crib. My 4-year-old boy was in his bed. My wife Katie was asleep next to me. Suddenly the birds outside stopped chirping. It was weird. My eyes popped open. Now I was sure something was wrong. I jumped out of bed and headed to the window to see what was outside. Before I could get to the window I heard three loud bangs on my front door— the butt end of an assault rifle— and someone yelled, ‘Open the door! FBI!’ I came downstairs in my boxers and saw a crew of men in full army fatigues pointing guns at me. One yelled, “One coming down!” They pulled me outside. I could see they had cars locking the whole block down.

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“I was taken into custody. My wife and kids were put in a separate room. The agent who was assigned to me to play good cop told me that my wife was going to jail as well. They asked me where everything was. I told them I had $100 grand on top of the fridge and piles of steroids in the cabinet, all personal use. I had about $20K worth of pharmaceutical growth hormone in the fridge as well, but I later learned that they had left that in my fridge for some reason; maybe they forgot it. At one point my good guy cop asked me for the passwords for my phone. I asked if I could brush my teeth or maybe eat and I would be willing to give up my passwords. He said you can’t eat but what would you want? I said a steak and some eggs and can I get the eggs over easy and the steak medium rare? He chuckled. At one point he put a hat I owned on his head. It said “tren dick” on it and we had a few laughs. I think I was in shock because I felt nothing. Not scared at all. Maybe part of me knew this was going to happen eventually. The agents that were searching my stuff asked me why I had so much oil. I quipped I was opening a massage parlor. The bad cop didn’t like that response.

 

“I was later taken to downtown Boston and brought in front of a judge where I was hit with a five-count indictment for charges including conspiracy to distribute “counterfeit drugs” and conspiracy to launder money. Katie was charged, too. I was denied bail. It was the day my life took a huge turn, and not one for the better.” 

 

It’s a hackneyed storyline: the drug dealer makes plans to retire, but fate intervenes and he’s brought to justice before he gets out. In this case, the drugs were anabolic steroids. This is the story of my client, Musclehead320_, a.k.a. Tyler Baumann. He wants me to tell his true-life story to you, the readers of MD. If you’re on social media and you’re into hardcore supplements and bodybuilding, you know who he is. You probably follow him on Instagram at @Musclehead320_ (if you don’t, you will now). His YouTube videos have received over a million views. His first steroid e-book sold tons of copies. His new e-book, “Training Diet Enhancements,” broadly covers everything about getting big and ripped including training and nutrition and is already selling off the chain. Right now, however, he’s sitting in Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution. His rise-and-fall saga is one for the movies (is there a smart producer reading this? Call me!). From a deeply troubled, underprivileged childhood to the flashy financial excesses of the “dark side” of the law to a prison cell. His case is a warning shot to anyone selling gear in volume and thinking, “it’s only juice.” That’s not always true.

 

The facts of Tyler’s case are a composite of bad factors that, in their unique combination, resulted in him facing a prison term range of 188 to 235 months (15 to nearly 20 years) under the federal sentencing guidelines! “If I knew the kind of time I could be facing,” he told me recently from prison, “I never would have gone down the road I did. I figured I’d be looking at 36 months if I got caught. Worst decision of my life.”

 

Tyler Baumann grew up under pretty deplorable circumstances, in a household that included alcoholism, economic hardship, bouts of homelessness and terrible role models. He dropped out of school halfway through the eighth grade at the age of 13, quickly racking up a series of juvenile arrests and two felony drug convictions. He served six years on a state prison sentence of five to seven years for selling cocaine when he was 18. After his release, as a convicted felon and ex-con with no education or skills, he couldn’t find employment. He floundered around until he discovered something that would dramatically change his life, both for the better and the worse. In his mid-20s, Tyler discovered anabolic steroids.

 

Tyler’s dealer was Phil Goodwin. He’d met Goodwin in prison. Goodwin taught Tyler how to use gear. Tyler quickly gained pounds of muscle, with trenbolone being his drug of choice. He developed great expertise in steroid use. His self-confidence soared. In 2013, Tyler created an Instagram account and Musclehead320_ was born. Musclehead320_ was Tyler’s ’s grandiose alter ego, whose passionate love affair with gear, straight talk about steroids, and provocative antics began attracting an IG following. Over time, Musclehead320_ became increasingly wild and outrageous.

 

Two years later, Goodwin approached Tyler about forming a steroid manufacture and trafficking 50/50 partnership. Goodwin’s idea was to create a new underground lab brand of steroids to sell via Instagram, a model employed by hundreds of steroid “kitchen chemists” nationwide. They agreed that Goodwin would handle the manufacturing and product creation end and the Musclehead320_ character would be the “face” of the brand online.

 

Goodwin, who designed the labels, chose the brand name “Onyx Pharmaceuticals” for the injectable products. At the time, Tyler was unaware that any actual company existed under that name and just thought it sounded “cool.” It was only after the business started that he found out that the name and logo were registered trademarks of a legitimate pharmaceutical company named Onyx Pharmaceuticals. He figured the similarity would help sales, but didn’t see any implications beyond that. Big, big mistake.

 

As the Musclehead320_ character became a bigger and bigger Instagram celebrity, the “Onyx” steroid brand took off. Sales skyrocketed, and Goodwin and Tyler brought in others, including family and friends, to help with the volume. The business started making so much money that they opened a tanning salon to launder the cash. It was so obviously a front that it didn’t offer spray tanning and didn’t even have music. Life for Tyler and Katie was sweet, Tyler recalls now.

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“Before my arrest I was definitely living the high life. Taking trips every month to different places. I had millions of dollars cash at my disposal. Living in a 5,000-square-foot home. Huge movie theater room, guesthouse connected. Driving a brand-new Escalade, wife driving a new Mercedes. I could buy whatever I wanted for my daughter and two sons. On top of that hundreds of companies were sending me free steroids, hoping I would feature them on my page. The income was nonstop. At the moment I felt on top of the world. Greed gets the best of you. When I think back on it now, yeah, it was a great time but if I knew what I was looking at for time I would never have done it at all. My mindset then was, hey I’m only selling steroids. I had already done time for selling coke. I figured that with steroids, if I get caught I’ll do a couple years so fuck it, it’s worth it for this amount of money. I had no clue what was in store for me. In the end, no amount money is worth doing 10 years especially if you have kids.”

 

Only about 50 percent of the steroid sales revenues were from products bearing the Onyx name and logo; the oral steroids and ancillary drugs like Arimidex didn’t infringe any trademarks. The real Onyx Pharmaceuticals never made any steroid products. It was a company that made three different cancer treatment drugs, and in 2013 it was purchased by Amgen Inc., another biopharmaceutical company. Although Amgen started phasing out the “Onyx” brand, the trademark remained in use. In May of 2015, Amgen/Onyx received five customer inquiries about their “Onyx” injectable anabolic steroid products. They quickly hired private investigators, who, upon finding the trademark-infringing Instagram accounts, notified the Feds. An investigation was launched, ultimately leading to the arrests of Goodwin, Tyler and several others.

 

So how does running an underground steroid lab conspiracy expose you to 15 to 20 years in prison? When Tyler first contacted me about taking his case, it looked like a typical underground steroid lab conspiracy of which I’ve handled many. But after digging through the facts, it was clear that this was something different under the law. Tyler recently reminded me, “Don’t you remember when you came back to me after looking at the facts and talking to the prosecutor and said my case was like I brought you a silver platter that looked like a fine dining, but when you took off the cover it was a steaming pile of shit?” We both laughed, but it was absolutely true. A steroid case had been effectively transformed into something exponentially worse.

 

There are some lessons to be learned here, but first let’s quickly explain how punishments work in federal court. Federal sentences are tied to the United States Sentencing Guidelines. There’s a chart with “Offense Level” on one axis and “Criminal History Category” on the other. Judges must look at the guidelines in sentencing an offender. In controlled substance cases, the Offense Level is determined by the “Drug Table.” The Drug Table is driven by the number of drug “units.” The more units, the greater the Offense Level. In money laundering and fraud cases, the Offense Level is determined by the “Fraud Table.” The Fraud Table is driven by the amount of the “loss” or, in a case involving counterfeit drugs, the “infringement amount.” Criminal History Category reflects past criminal behavior with a point-based system. The more prior convictions, the higher the Category. Category I is the lowest and Category VI is the highest. The higher the category, the longer the prison time exposure. Those whose past records classify them as “Career Offenders” are sentenced under Category VI.

 

Laundering money and being a leader of the conspiracy didn’t help Tyler’s sentencing prospects. But it was primarily a combination of three bad factors that created a “perfect shitstorm” under the sentencing guidelines. The first bad factor was Tyler’s criminal arrest record, which included two prior felony drug convictions. Many steroid defendants are Category I offenders with little or no criminal record. Tyler was classified as a “Career Offender,” subjecting him to sentencing as a Category VI offender. The difference in exposure is dramatic.

 

The second bad factor was the use of the trademarked “Onyx” name and logo. Counterfeiting a registered trademark is a serious crime with significant sentencing exposure. In Tyler’s case, it wildly inflated his exposure. Why? Because sentences for steroid distribution conspiracies fall under the Drug Table, which for anabolic steroids caps out at Level 20 (i.e., the highest level based on quantity alone is a Level 20 regardless of how many units are sold). But sentences for trademark infringement fall under the Fraud Table. The illegal use of the “Onyx” trademark switched the applicable guidelines from the Drug Table to the Fraud Table, which does not cap out at Level 20.

 

The third bad factor was that the conspiracy made a lot of money. The Government conservatively estimated that the revenues approached $5 million, with $1.5 to $3.5 million made off the Onyx branded products. Based just on the products that infringed the Onyx trademark, the revenues, along with other applicable enhancements, drove the total adjusted Offense Level to a Level 31. As a Career Offender (Category VI), that’s 188 to 235 months in prison.

 

We employed a number of damage control strategies. For example, we argued that the Career Offender status, while technically correct, overstated Tyler’s actual record. Arguing that a felony conviction with a six-year sentence for a troubled teen on a fairly low-level drug crime was terribly harsh, I was able to convince the prosecutor (and later the judge) that treating him as a lesser Category III was more equitable, cutting his exposure down to a range of 135 to 168 months. Still awful, but better.

 

We also argued that the 16-level enhancement for the “infringement amount” based on the conspiracy’s $1.5 to 3.5 million gross revenues dramatically overstated the actual harm to Amgen/Onyx. After all, to the extent that the conspiracy sold steroids bearing the Onyx name or logo after Amgen began phasing out the Onyx brand and removing the name and logo, the infringement didn’t translate to any appreciable loss to Amgen/Onyx. Tyler didn’t compete with Amgen/Onyx products and had a completely different customer base. Amgen/Onyx marketed cancer drugs, not anabolic steroids. They marketed them to oncologists, not the public. They made them for extremely sick medical patients, not healthy bodybuilders. Onyx didn’t make steroids and not a single penny that went to the conspiracy could ever have gone to Amgen/Onyx.

 

As Tyler’s lawyer, I presented an extensive sentencing memorandum pushing for a sentence of only 60 months. I wanted the judge to better understand who Tyler was as a person, not just as a docket on the criminal calendar. I spoke to many people who knew him. I left no stone unturned, even meeting with his mother in a Dunkin’ Donuts somewhere in central Massachusetts to learn more about his childhood. I toured his house, sat down with Katie, and met his kids. The government was recommending 135 months, the bottom of the applicable range as a Category III (not VI). The judge listened to everything and in the end imposed a sentence of 120 months— halfway between our five-year recommendation and his 15-year minimum as a Career Offender— and three years of supervised release plus forfeitures. Goodwin got even more time. I’ve handled more steroid cases than any other lawyer I’ve ever heard of, and I can state without question that these sentences were at the extreme high end of the rage for underground lab cases (I even provided a list of comparable cases to the court for reference at sentence). However, in the eyes of the justice system, this wasn’t as much a steroid case with an infringing trademark as it was a trademark infringement conspiracy involving controlled substances that were steroids. It ended that way, but it also started that way. The charges stemmed from a drug company’s private investigators looking into complaints from consumers who were confused about Amgen/Onyx’s “steroid” products. They brought the case to the Department of Justice’s trademark infringement division. In fact, the lead prosecutor wasn’t a drug prosecutor at all, but rather one whose experience was prosecuting trademark infringement cases.

 

As I said to Tyler, if any one or even two of the bad factors existed in this case, but not the third, the sentencing exposure would have been substantially reduced. The unique combination had unforeseen impact. And that’s the takeaway. Once you start down the road of a criminal conspiracy, a mix of unexpected laws and sentencing rules can expose you to charges and punishments you never foresaw. “I never imagined that using that trademark would be more serious than selling steroids in the first place,” he told me from prison. In a sentencing sense, that’s exactly what it was.

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“What’s prison life like? Fort Dix is a low-security prison. So as far as prisons go, I caught a bit of a break. This prison is pretty laid back. There are weights and it’s easy to get a good amount of protein. Food isn’t bad. There’s all you can eat salad and soup bars usually. The line food is decent. In the unit there are pool tables with ice machines and TV rooms with cable and when new movies come out we usually see them. But it’s not all Skittles and rainbows. It’s still jail. It’s very segregated by race and area. When you eat, you have to find your “car.” Car is a term meaning people who are from your city. Federal prisons have people from everywhere. I am with the Boston car. We sit with New York guys as well. It’s mostly Italian guys but a few of us are half. There is still tension when men are crammed into one spot. There are long lines for microwaves or anything you do. No air-conditioning as well! Summertime is brutal. The worst part of prison isn’t being in; it’s being away from your family and feeling you’re less than a member of society. And I do miss trenbolone, haha.” 

 

At his peak, when he was home, Tyler weighed a lean 240. There are plenty of pics and videos of him on YouTube and Instagram. Keeping size in prison has its difficulties.

 

“I’m not the same 240 as I was. I train one muscle a day, five days a week. The weight room is really overcrowded and it’s hard to get stuff so you have to work with what you can. All the weights are from the ‘90s. It’s kinda like a hardcore gym. No cables or machines; all free weights. The dumbbells go up to 55 pounds. There is this one thing we call the “make shift.” They are shaped like mini-barbells but they are like two little bars you hold as dumbbells that you put weights on. There are no clamps so we use these leather straps you cut off of a weight belt to hold the weights in place. My co-defendant steroid partner Phil is now my training partner. As of right now, this is how I train: I train chest Monday [incline barbell bench 4 sets, dumbbell bench press 4 sets, decline dumbbell bench 3 sets, flat bench flyes 3 sets, dips to failure 3 sets]. On Tuesday I do back [T-bar rows 4 sets, barbells rows 4 sets, pull-ups 4 sets, deadlifts 5 sets]. On Wednesday I do biceps and triceps [long bar curls 4 sets, preacher curls 4 sets, various dumbbell movements 4 sets, skull-crushers 4 sets, overhead triceps extensions 4 sets, kickbacks 4 sets]. On Thursday I do legs [squats 5 sets, hack squats 4 sets, leg press sled 4 sets, stiff-legged deadlifts 4 sets, dumbbell lying leg curls 4 sets, calf work 6 sets]. On Friday I hit shoulders [seated military press 4 sets, Arnold press 4 sets, 3 sets each of front, rear and side delts with dumbbells, upright rows 3 sets, barbell shrugs 4 sets]. For a post-workout shake they sell crystallized egg whites. So, I do 10 scoops of those with 2 scoops of low-sugar cocoa mix. I’m eating about 6 to 7 meals day, 30 to 50 grams of protein per meal. Getting good calories is hard. I try to eat peanuts a lot. Steak is not every day so it’s hard to be consistent.”

 

What’s next for Tyler after serving his time? The way we figure it, he’s likely to be released to a halfway house in less than six years from when you’re reading this. He’s making the most of his time away. When I asked him who he wanted to play him in any future movie version of his story, he said Ben Affleck, probably because of the Boston “car” connection. He added, “We will have to juice him up though.” I laughed, but promised I’d run the idea by my good friend and Beverly Hills celebrity trainer Rehan Jalali, who handles Ben’s nutrition. Tyler still gets new followers on his Instagram page @Musclehead320_ (don’t forget to also follow me on IG @RickCollinsEsq). His downloadable e-books are still selling like hotcakes.

 

“I put together two books that are unique. My first book is strictly geared towards how to use steroids, breaking everything down from how to inject, countering steroid side effects, with sample cycles laid out completely. There’s also a newbies section. I’ve always been clear about teens not using. I didn’t use gear until I was 26. I also think it’s important to get a physician to monitor you. But there’s just too much bad information around about steroids. I wanted people to know the truth from someone with lots of firsthand knowledge. My new book is more geared towards the training and nutrition aspects of bodybuilding. Without smart training and diet, taking steroids is pointless. I laid out cool, easy to follow workout routines. I broke down dieting simply and laid out sample diets to use and follow that will aid you in your journey. Also, I included a huge Q&A section which answers a lot of common steroid questions.” 

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Like so many others who become involved in steroid trafficking, Tyler is an entrepreneur at heart. He sees his future upon release as bright, and so do I.

 

“I have a lot of business ideas. I lived, slept and breathed fitness every day of my life for years, and that will never change. I’m also learning how to do graphic design and video editing and it’s something that I really enjoy doing. I have a creative mind and it is a lucrative business if you know what you’re doing. I’ll make a good legit living when I get out. What I want most of all is to just make up the lost time with my kids. I want to be a good father and love my wife Katie. Katie got a year in prison for her role in this. I regret getting her involved. I want to spend our future days on the beaches of Florida. I will appreciate more than ever before the value of every day of freedom, every day with the people I love. If I could give a tip to anyone who is in the game or is choosing to sell steroids, it’s to consult with a lawyer and understand what laws you are breaking. Don’t do it. It’s not worth it. If you have children, I assure you that prison is not where you want to be to watch them grow up.”

 

Rick Collins, JD, CSCS [www.rickcollins.com] is the lawyer that members of the bodybuilding community and nutritional supplement industry turn to when they need legal help or representation. [©Rick Collins, 2018. All rights reserved. For informational purposes only, not to be construed as legal or medical advice.]

 

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