WBRZ - Baton Rouge

PITTSBURGH - A doctor released from the Pittsburgh Steelers medical staff five years ago after investigators questioned his bulk purchase of anabolic steroids has been indicted for illegally prescribing the muscle-building aids.

Authorities are not listing the team or any of its players as among the recipients.

Sixty-two-year-old Dr. Richard Rydze (ridz) is expected to appear before a federal magistrate Friday.

Rydze left the Steelers in June 2007. The FBI accuses him of conspiring to distribute steroids and human growth hormone from September 2007 through March 2011. He also is charged with illegally prescribing painkillers during a slightly longer time frame - including a few months when he was still with the team.

A Steelers spokesman declined to comment Friday. In 2007, President Art Rooney II said Rydze denied giving players steroids.