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Angle charged with HGH possession

MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. -- Pro wrestler and Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle has been arrested on charges of possessing a human growth hormone and violating an order of protection in suburban Pittsburgh.

Angle was arrested about 7:50 a.m. Saturday in a Robinson Township strip mall parking lot. His girlfriend, who said she obtained a protection order about 1½ hours earlier after the two fought Friday night, alleged that he had circled the lot staring at her as she sat in a coffee shop, according to a police affidavit.

Police said they found the human growth hormone Hygetropin in Angle's car, and the wrestler told them he had a prescription for the drug. He also told officers he had not seen the woman and was looking for a hotel because he was barred from his home.

Angle, 40, was charged with violating the order of protection, harassment, possession of drugs and paraphernalia and driving with a suspended license. He posted bail and is scheduled to appear for a hearing Tuesday on the drug and harassment charges and Wednesday on the charge of violating the protection order, a court clerk said.

Angle, the current heavyweight champion of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, was scheduled to appear in a TNA Wrestling event Sunday night in Orlando, Fla. Steven Godfrey, spokesman for Nashville, Tenn.-based TNA Wrestling, declined comment on the arrest but said the main event between Angle, Sting and "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan would go on as scheduled.

Godfrey also said TNA has a drug policy in place for staff and performers, but he declined to release the details.

Angle's phone number is unlisted. Messages left for attorney Michael Santicola, who has represented him previously, were not immediately returned.

Angle is a two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion at Clarion University in western Pennsylvania. He won the 220-pound championship at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, defeating Iran's Abbas Jadidi for the gold medal, and has been a professional wrestler since 1998.

In September, Angle was found not guilty of drunken driving in Moon Township outside Pittsburgh. A motorist told police Angle had cut her off while leaving a bar parking lot.

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press