Peyton Manning Hired Private Investigators to Track Down Source Before HGH Story Went Public

The Washington Post revealed new information that shows that Peyton Manning and his camp were well aware of the upcoming HGH allegations more than three weeks before the Al-Jazeera report became public knowledge, and that Manning hired private investigators to identify and track down the potential source for the story.

According to the Post, Manning’s agent, Tom Condon, received a letter from Al-Jazeera on December 4th, 22 days before the Huffington Post published the advanced info about the upcoming documentary that included allegations against Peyton Manning and other athletes regarding HGH use. Manning reportedly hired attorneys and Ari Fleischer within a few days of receiving that letter.

A little more than two weeks later, they locked in on the likely source for the claims against Manning: Charles Sly. According to the Post, the Guyer Institute locked in on him as the most likely source based on the Al-Jazeera letter, which alleged that Peyton Manning and his wife visited the clinic after-hours to “get IVs and shit.” That sophisticated phrasing led them to suspect Sly before the report went public (though Dr. Dale Guyer claimed that he only worked there for 3 months as an unpaid intern and would have not crossed paths with Peyton Manning.)

Two private investigators hired by Manning then went to the house of Sly’s parents in Brownsburg, Indiana. The parents initially had their daughter call 9-1-1 when two men came to the door, and according to the recording, once claimed he was law enforcement but didn’t have his badge (the investigators deny claiming this, though it was part of the contemporaneous call before the parents would have known the reason for the visit.)

Eventually police came out, but the parents decided to talk with the investigators, and the police left. They informed them that their son was due to come home for the holidays the next day. Manning’s investigators spoke with him on December 23rd, though they refused to identify specifically who they were representing, and on December 24th (two days before the Huffington Post broke the story of Al-Jazeera’s upcoming allegations) Sly recorded his statement recanting any prior claims he made.

The Post’s story is also notable because it is confirmed that Ashley Manning received shipment of medication from the Guyer Institute, which was reported in late December by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

What does the rest of this new information mean? Well, it means that Manning and his group were not caught off-guard in the least the day after Christmas. Ari Fleischer was already deeply involved for weeks. Manning’s representatives had a chance to review what appeared in writing in the medical records at Guyer Institute. They had an opportunity to track down and locate the source, and question him, and knew he recorded a recantation. So when Manning gave his emotional denial on Sunday, December 27th, that wasn’t a function of someone who had been blindsided.

As for the rest of it, well, it just means there are still more questions than answers.