Mark Alesia, and Justin L. Mack
The doctor at the center of a report linking Peyton Manning to performance enhancing drugs works out ofa Northsideoffice that showcases alternative healthand projects a sense ofserenity.
There is a cluster of crystals at the front door of the Guyer Institute. There's a spa in the back.
Yet other aspects of Dale Guyer's life, culled from public records, are not so serene.
The Internal Revenue Service has filed tax liens on Guyer for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Guyer's divorce case contains a2010 documentfrom his wife's attorney that accuseshimof not filing tax returns "personally and/or for his multiple businesses since 2006."
That divorce case has persisted for more than six years.
"Dr. Guyer is not exactly the easiest person to resolve issues with," Brian Zoeller, attorney for Lisa Guyer, told The Indianapolis Star. "In 20 years (of practicingdivorce law), I've never had a case that has gone this long."
In July 2012, Guyer's stepson, James "Skip" Lockhart III, 27, was killed in Lawrence after a shootout with police. He had beenpulled over for a broken taillight. Police said Lockhart, who had a criminal record, was carryinga pound of marijuana andsix guns in the car, along with other weapons.
In 2007,Guyer's name showed up in afederalindictment against Thomas Bader and his company, College Pharmacy of Colorado Springs, Colo. It alleged that Guyer received illegal Chinese HGH from College Pharmacy in February 2007. A jury found Bader guilty in 2010 and he was sentenced to 40 months in prison.
Steven Fillenworth,an attorney for Dale Guyer in the divorce, declined comment to The Star.A receptionist at the Guyer Institute said Tuesday that Guyer was busy andthatshe would give a reporter's contact information to an attorney representing him. No attorney called.
The receptionist gave thereporter a copy of Guyer's statement, released Sunday, that said allegations in an Al Jazeera documentary are "simply not true." That documentary used hidden cameras to recordclaimsmade byCharles Sly, a former intern at the Guyer Institute, about supplying athletes with human growth hormone (HGH).
Manning entered the story when Sly said he had knowledge of the institute shipping HGH to Manning's wife in Florida. Sly later recanted that assertion. Al Jazeera has sinceclarified thatits reporting does not state Peyton Manning received HGH, which is banned by the NFL. Manning has vehemently denied using HGH and asserted that anything his wife might have received from the institute is private.
Guyer called Sly an "unpaid intern" for three months who didn't work at the office at the time he claimed. Al Jazeera responded by releasing audio of a phone call to the institutethat appears to confirm its account of when the intern worked there.
HGH can be prescribed legally, but only for a limited number of reasons, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Often it's hormone deficiency in adults.
The Indiana attorney general’s office has not received any complaints involving the Guyer Institute and is not currently investigating it, according to a spokeswoman. The FBI told The Star it could neither confirm nor deny any investigation into the matter.
Former Indianapolis Star sports columnist Bob Kravitz, now at WTHR-13,wrotethatGuyer prescribed HGH to treat hischronic fatigue in the early 2000s. He said he went to Guyerout of "desperation" and used the HGH for a few months.
"Unfortunately, it had zero impact — except on my bank account," Kravitz wrote. "I quit using it, and years later, doctors eventually discovered what my issues were and addressed them properly."
Kravitz declined further comment to The Star.
Leonard Dale Guyer was born in Lafayette in 1960, according to a resume available online.The Guyer Institute's website said hewent to Purdue University as an undergraduate and graduated from the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1991.He worked at Community Hospital of Indianapolis and St. Vincent Hospital before moving to private practice.
He has alicense to practice medicineinGeorgia as well as Indiana.
The Guyers' divorce documents describea lifestyle that included private school for their only child together, a daughter; a lake home and expensive cars. The Fishers home they once shared was assessed this year at $480,900.
Lisa Guyer worked as manager/director of theGuyer Institute for several years before her husband fired her on the day he filed for divorce in 2009, according to court records.
A common theme onthe Guyer Institute's website, and in a book the doctorco-authored, is helping people who weren't successful under the care of other doctors.
A testimonial on the institute's web page said, "Where conventional doctors fail, Dr. Guyer's knowledge and extensive testing give you hope."
Another testimonial said,“Many people have a mental block that if a treatment is not covered by insurance, they just turn off and return to something that is not working. I advise people to move forward, have faith and do it!”
Yet another testimonial said, "If I had to give up all but one doctor, including the radiologists, oncologists, surgeons and others, that doctor would be Dr. Guyer.”
"Getting Well," the 2004 book he co-authored,says on its cover, "Refuse to be a Victim—Take Charge of Your Own Health."
Manning's career appeared to be on the ropes in 2011, when he sat out the season after necksurgeries. There were reports of him going to Europe for treatment.
Some of Guyer's alternative therapies have been questioned by mainstream doctors. An example is chelation therapy for heart disease, which The Star examined in a 2009 story.
The currentMayo Clinic websitesays,"Chelation therapy — long a treatment for mercury and lead poisoning — isn't a proven treatment for heart disease, and it can be dangerous when used as a heart disease treatment.Even so, some doctors and alternative medicine practitioners have used chelation therapy to treat heart disease and stroke."
Star reporter Chris Sikich contributed to this story.Call Star reporterMark Alesia at (317) 444-6311. Follow him on Twitter: @markalesia. Call Star reporterJustin L.Mack at (317) 444-6318. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack.
