A Boca Raton personal trainer charged with selling illegally procured human growth hormones and other drugs for $6.8 million has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Patrick Bronder, 48, bought the growth hormones and other drugs used for the treatment of cancer, high cholesterol and other medical conditions from a former New Jersey chiropractor, who got the drugs from Medicaid patients who were prescribed the drugs through clinics in New York City, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami.

The drugs in turn were sold to an unidentified Boca Raton pharmaceutical wholesaler, court records show, and ended up being prescribed to other patients.

Bronder and the chiropractor, Michael Manno, “did not make any effort to ensure the drugs had been maintained under conditions to guarantee their safety and effectiveness,” according to court records.

Experts say there are inherent dangers in taking any black market prescription drug. In this case, federal prosecutors say, unwitting patients were prescribed the drugs.

“They are basically laundered drugs. That is a pretty scary prospect,” said John Hoberman, a University of Texas professor who has studied hormone and steroid use since the 1980s.

He said there is no way to know how frequently black market prescription drugs are diverted back into legitimate channels.

“The whole point of an underground economy is it is underground,” he said.

Bronder, 48, and Manno were charged in April with tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the government for distributing the Medicaid pharmaceuticals. The men pleaded guilty to the charges in May.

From April 2001 to June 2002, Bronder and Manno acquired the drugs in New York and then sold them to a pharmaceutical wholesaler in Boca Raton for $6.8 million, according to prosecutors.

During that time, Bronder got an additional $325,000 from the pharmaceutical wholesaler for sales work.

A federal judge sentenced Bronder and Manno on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach. In addition to his prison sentence, Bronder agreed to forfeit $325,000. Manno was sentenced to three years in prison and agreed to forfeit $128,000.

A third man who hosts an urban hip-hop and R&B; lifestyles television show awaits sentencing for helping Bronder transfer cash between the Bahamas and the United States.

Michael Sherman, of Boca Raton, host of The Mike Sherman Show on WBFS-Ch. 33, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by helping Bronder, his former brother-in-law, hide the income from the drug sales. His sentencing is scheduled for late August.

Peter Franceschina can be reached at or 561-243-6605.