Police: Sharks staffer ordered, dispensed drugs

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The director of sports medicine for the Jacksonville Sharks medical staff was arrested Thursday night, accused of ordering and dispensing steroids and pain killers under the team doctor's name.

Douglas Kleiner, 49, is accused of trafficking in controlled substances, delivering Schedule III narcotics, practicing medicine without a license and dispensing prescriptions without a license. He was released from the Duval County jail on $40,012 bond.

According to the police report, the team's doctor, Michael Haghighi, alerted police when he learned that Kleiner had ordered and picked up a quantity of testosterone, hydrocodone, AndroGel, Valium, phentermine, Provigil and phendimetrazine under his name without his knowledge.

According to police, "Kleiner is not a pharmacist licensed in any state; therefore the defendant cannot dispense medications to anybody with or without a prescription from a licensed medical doctor."

Kleiner told police he "was given the role of managing the medication and usually received it in bulk from the pharmacy."

Pharmacy personnel told investigators that Kleiner would email orders for the drugs under Haghighi's name and license, picked up the drugs. Kleiner told officers he kept them locked in a box at his home and brought them on game games and would dispense them based on prescriptions the doctor had written.

Haghighi told police, "There should never be any point where Kleiner acts like a pharmacist and dispenses the medication himself."

DOCUMENT: Douglas Kleiner's arrest report

According to the Sharks' website, Kleiner previously served as a tenured associate professor and founding program director for the sports medicine/athletic training education program at the University of North Florida, followed by being an associate professor of medicine for the University of Florida Health Science Center at Shands Jacksonville, in both orthopedic surgery and emergency medicine and was the division chief of pre-hospital services (including sports medicine) and the director of research.

The website also says Kleiner currently holds an academic position as an associate professor of emergency medicine at the Boonshoft School of Medicine.

Late Thursday, Sharks Managing Partner Jeff Bouchy released the following statement on the Kleiner's arrest:

"The Jacksonville Sharks fully cooperated with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office throughout this entire investigation. As soon as I understood the seriousness of the allegations, I asked for Mr. Kleiner's resignation. Mr. Kleiner was not and has never been a Sharks team doctor. All Sharks team doctors have acted professionally in every manner and we continue to have the best medical team in the arena football league."

For its part, St. Vincent's HealthCare says it believed the medications were being appropriately provided for the treatment of the Sharks' players and employees. St. Vincent's said it has been cooperating with law enforcement officials in their investigation.