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Life in the fast lane caught up with a professional bowler out of Somerville Monday.
Arlington Police busted Joseph Dirico, a 38-year-old pro bowler, for allegedly selling steroids out of a Bailey Road apartment in West Somerville Monday.
Now Dirico will have his name dragged through the gutter in court, as he faces charges of distributing a class E substance and distributing steroids and hypodermic needles in a school zone. He was arraigned in Cambridge District Court, where he pleaded not guilty Monday. He is being held without bail.
"Given the reported high use of steroids among athletes, we’re happy to have this distributor of steroids in our custody," said Arlington Police Chief Fred Ryan Monday.
Dirico, who was once an information technology person for the Somerville Public Schools, ran a mail-order business through a Web site by using Paypal.
Dirico is also a professional bowler in the Professional Bowler Association’s East Region league. He is currently ranked 284th in the point standings for the region.
PBA spokesman Mitch Germann said Tuesday that none of the more than 4,000 professional bowlers in the country are currently tested for steroids.
"However, we are considering implementing a drug testing police in the near future, but it would be limited to the national tour," Germann said. "It’s unlikely we would attempt to subject all PBA members at all levels to a testing program."
Dirico reportedly transformed a room in his Somerville apartment into a lab to make the steroids.
Arlington Police and federal agents went into the apartment Dirico was living in at 26 Bailey Road #1 in Somerville at 6 a.m. Monday to arrest him. Inside the apartment, they found hundreds of vials of steroids, and other drug-making materials, including oils, powders, labels and syringes. Police estimate Dirico had at least $10,000 worth of steroids. He was allegedly using the Internet to push the performance-enhancing drugs.
"He was manufacturing [steroids] in his apartment," said Arlington Investigator Brian Connerney, who handled the Internet portion of the investigation while Investigator James Fitzpatrick dealt with the "foot" part of the work.