CLEVELAND, Ohio - A former Pittsburgh Steelers team doctor was arrested today and accused in a 185-count indictment of conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids, human growth hormone and painkillers to patients. (Read the charges in the document reader below.)

The filing in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, however, does not identify the patients who received the drugs from Dr. Richard Rydze, 62.

The indictment alleges Rydze distributed the steroids from September 2007 through March 2011. Prosecutors said Rydze and another man distributed the steroids "for unauthorized uses such as bodybuilding and athletic performance enhancement.''

Federal prosecutors said that from February 2005 through October 2011, Rydze obtained more than 21,000 hydrocodone-acetaminophen, commonly known as Vicodin ES, by calling in more than 200 prescriptions to Pittsburgh-area pharmacies.

"Doctors have a tremendous power in prescribing medication, and the vast majority use that power to dispense medicine to help sick people,'' said U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach in Cleveland. "This doctor is accused of using his prescription pad like a personal ATM, doling out steroids, painkillers and other medicine for his own gain.''

Rydze served with the Steelers for 22 years, ending in the summer of 2007, according to ESPN.com. In a 2009 interview, Rydze told ESPN that he used human growth hormone to help patients heal from tendon and ligament injuries.

He denied giving it to players.

"It was never done in athletes," he told ESPN. "It was never with any Steelers."

In 2007, narcotics investigators questioned Rydze about a purchase of $150,000 worth of testosterone and growth hormone from Signature Pharmacy of Orlando, Fla., according to the Times Union of Albany, N.Y. The paper reported that Rydze paid for the items with a credit card. ESPN reported the retail value of the purchase approached $1 million.

A few months after the interview, Rydze left the Steelers, and the investigation later expanded. Authorities in New York and Florida followed a nationwide money trail that involved Signature and other online pharmacies.

In March 2011, FBI agents from Cleveland searched Rydze's medical offices in Pittsburgh and seized documents, according to interviews and several published reports.

Federal prosecutors and agents in Cleveland worked the case because of Rydze's connections in Pittsburgh. He was a prominent physician who gave physicals to agents in the Pittsburgh FBI office, according to published reports.

Spokesmen for the Steelers and the NFL declined to comment.

Two other men were also charged: William Zipf, 56, and James Hatzimbes, 42, of Pittsburgh.