My True Crime Story: Where is Melissa Sclafani Now? – What happens when financial instability drives you to the brink of distress? This is the story of Melissa Sclafani, a mother from Gloucester, Massachusetts, who went from being a regular bank teller to running a massive, bogus steroid scam. The scam is covered in great detail on VH1‘s episode “My True Crime Story,” along with the investigation process and Melissa’s current whereabouts and activities. Who is Melissa Sclafani, then? Let’s investigate.
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What Crime Did Melissa Sclafani Commit?
Melissa Sclafani, a young mother who resided at 19 Beacon Street in Gloucester, Massachusetts, was in her late 20s, struggling to make ends meet and dealing with postpartum depression. Her position as a bank teller at the neighbourhood bank was insufficient to provide for her family’s financial needs. While searching for a side job, she met Tyler Bauman, 32, of Shrewsbury, and Philip Goodwin, 36, of Lynn. The group founded a fake steroid business in February 2016 with the assistance of three other conspirators.
To create injectable anabolic steroids, they smuggled raw steroids from China and Hong Kong, and Tyler, the alleged mastermind, sold them in the US under false pretences. Under the alias “musclehead320,” Tyler, an American international biopharmaceutical business, advertised the liquid anabolic steroids through a phoney Amgen subsidiary. Amgen does not, however, produce or market such anabolic steroids. Melissa and others used the name “Onyx Pharmaceuticals,” which included a bogus email address, to promote and advertise their products on fitness blogs and social networking sites.
According to allegations, they distributed their fake merchandise all around the nation using fake labels, holograms, and branding. Customers paid for the steroids through money remitters like Western Union and MoneyGram, and conspiracy members used fraudulent identification and various remitter locations to pick up the steroid revenues, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
The proceeds from the transaction were then cleaned through Tyler and Philip’s Beverly tanning shop. Melissa worked as the corporate secretary for the Wicked Tan LLC salon on Dodge Street in Gloucester. She aided the other defendant in obtaining supplies and raw materials from foreign countries to produce the fake steroids. She also used the tanning salon to launder the sales earnings.
Where is Melissa Sclafani Now?
Melissa Sclafani conducted the fraud for more than a year between February 2016 and April 12, 2017, when they were accused of conspiring to traffic in steroids and launder money. Homeland Security Investigations and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out the inquiry (HSI). The investigators from the US Postal Inspection Service, the New York Field Office, and the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation assisted the investigators.
Five federal search warrants issued due to the extensive investigation carried out by several federal agencies “yielded 9 kilogrammes of raw powder steroids, over 35,000 units of finished steroid units, laboratory production equipment, 14,000 fraudulent branding labels and boxes, and more than $500,000 in cash.” Melissa, Tyler, Philip, and Brian Petzke, 49, of Saugus, Robert Medeiros, 31, of Gardner, and Kathryn “Katie” Green, 28, of Shrewsbury, were all the subjects of a total of six federal arrest warrants.
On July 14, 2017, Melissa entered a guilty plea in a Boston federal court to “one count of conspiracy with intent to distribute and distribute counterfeit steroids and one count of conspiracy to launder money.” The maximum penalty for money laundering offences is a 20-year jail term, a fine of $500,000 or twice the gain or loss of the conspiracy, and three years of supervised release. A potential 5-year jail sentence, 3 years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000—or twice the gain or loss of the conspiracy—were imposed for the conspiracy to manufacture and distribute phoney steroids.
Melissa received a lesser term as a result of her plea agreement. The 30-year-old was sentenced to one year, one day in jail, and two years of supervised release on April 26, 2018. Melissa Sclafani completed serving her entire sentence as of 2022. She is an assistant manager at Citizens Bank and is in her mid-30s.
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