NEW YORK — Alex Rodriguez is
scheduled to meet with federal investigators probing a Canadian
physician on Friday, a person familiar with the session told The
Associated Press.
The meeting is scheduled to take place
in Buffalo and likely will include FBI agents and members of other
federal agencies, the person said Monday, speaking on condition of
anonymity because no public statements were authorized.
The scheduling of the meeting was
first reported by The New York Times.
Rodriguez said March 1 he had been
contacted by investigators and intended to cooperate. He was told from
the outset that federal investigators view him as a witness in the case,
the person said.
Dr. Anthony Galea said during a March 8
interview with The Associated Press that he treated the New York
Yankees third baseman last year and prescribed anti-inflammatories but
never gave him or any other athlete human growth hormone.
Other major leaguers, including the
Mets' Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran, have been contacted by federal
investigators about Galea. Colorado closer Huston Street has said
investigators might want to talk to him about the case. Reyes and
Beltran have said they did not receive HGH from Galea.
Galea, who also has treated golfer
Tiger Woods, was charged by Canadian authorities in December with
selling an unapproved drug known as Actovegin. He also was charged with
conspiracy to import an unapproved drug, conspiracy to export a drug and
smuggling goods into Canada by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Galea was arrested Oct. 15 after a
search warrant was executed at the Institute of Sports Medicine Health
and Wellness Centre near Toronto.
Vials and ampules containing HGH and
Actovegin, a drug extracted from calf's blood, were found in a car
driven by Mary Anne Catalano, according to the RCMP and U.S. federal
court documents. Catalano told American authorities at the border in
Buffalo that she knew the drugs were illegal and that she was
transporting them for her employer.
Galea told the AP during the March 8
interview that Catalano was carrying only a minuscule amount of HGH and
that it was for his own use.