- An influencer and bodybuilder was arrested after investigators said she received steroids.
- Melissa Kate Bumstead has over 105,000 followers on Instagram, where she posts fitness content.
- Bumstead was arrested on Friday and charged with six counts of possessing controlled substances.
A Canadian Instagram influencer and bodybuilder was charged with six felony counts of possessing a controlled substance without a prescription after police said they linked her to a package containing steroids, court documents show.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations team in Florida said Melissa Kate Bumstead had six different controlled substances, including the anabolic steroid medications testosterone propionate and drostanolone propionate, according to an arrest affidavit reviewed by Insider.
Bumstead is a 30-year-old professional bodybuilder who shares fitness posts under the name Melissa Valliere and the handle @melissabum on Instagram, where she has more than 105,000 followers and regularly reaches over 10,000 likes on posts.
Investigators said that in addition to testosterone and drostanolone, Bumstead was in possession of the anabolic steroids trenbolone acetate, oxandrolone, mesterolone, and stanozolol, according to the arrest affidavit filed by Florida state prosecutors.
There is a long history of professional bodybuilders and other athletes using anabolic steroids as part of training regimens to try to boost their strength.
Bumstead won first place at the 2018 Tampa Pro Figure contest and was the runner-up at the 2018 Los Angeles Pro Figure competition, according to a profile of her athletic history on the bodybuilding website Arnold Sports Festival. In 2015, she won first place in the figure category in the Canada Bodybuilding Federation’s national championship.
The athlete was arrested on Friday in Palm City, Florida, after Martin County Sheriff’s Office investigators used a search warrant on a home that they believed to be owned by CBUM Holdings Account LLC. Bumstead’s brother, Christopher Bumstead, is the registered agent for the holding company, according to the affidavit.
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Christopher, who has over 3.5 million followers on Instagram, is also a professional bodybuilder and is the two-time reigning winner of the Classic Physique Olympia bodybuilding competition. Christopher did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.
The investigation began on September 1, when a package in Memphis, Tennessee, in the process of being shipped from Montreal to Palm City, was “selected for an extensive exam” by US Customs and Border Protection, according to the affidavit. Officials said they found vials and packages of steroids and other prescription medication in the package addressed to Melissa.
A Homeland Security Investigations officer informed the Martin County Special Investigation Section about the parcel on September 8, the affidavit states, and on September 9, Martin County officers started investigating the package and Melissa.
On Friday, a detective “covertly delivered” the parcel to its intended delivery address, with a tracking device planted inside the package so alerts would be sent when someone opened it, according to the affidavit. While executing the search warrant, investigators found evidence on Melissa’s hands that she had opened the package, the affidavit says.
Melissa was booked at the Martin County jail on Friday with bond set at $30,000, a spokesperson for the Martin County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Insider. She was released on Saturday, according to the local outlet TCPalm. It was not immediately clear when she was next due in court.
Melissa has since shared two posts on Instagram this week, as well as several Instagram stories on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Melissa did not respond to a request for comment.
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