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BALCO figures get less prison than dealers

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 October 2005, 18:22 CDT

By Adam Tanner

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The head of the BALCO lab at the center of a global sports steroid scandal was sentenced to four months in prison on Tuesday, a punishment the judge said was less than drug dealers get in less significant cases.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston approved a plea deal that will send BALCO head Victor Conte, 55, to prison for four months and home for four months of confinement. She then sentenced Greg Anderson, 39, baseball superstar Barry Bonds' trainer, to three months prison and three months home confinement for distributing steroids.

"They were cheating on those rules and you helped them do that," Illston told Conte, referring to professional athletes.

BALCO owner Conte, his deputy, James Valente, 50, and Anderson admitted guilt to steroid distribution in July in pleas that knocked out almost all of the original charges. Valente was given three years probation and fined $3,000.

News two years ago that BALCO was the source of a previously undetectable steroid prompted an effort across many sports to clamp down on performance-enhancing drugs.

The scandal sullied top sports names and raised questions about achievements such as new baseball home run records.

The judge appeared to express frustration with the plea deal that gave Conte only four months behind bars, punishment she said was "way less significant than the consequences that I mete out every single day for crimes that are far less significant."

The U.S. government unveiled the case with a splash in February 2004 with a news conference by then U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. At the time, officials said the 42-count indictment could result in years of prison time.

At the sentencing, Judge Illston told the prosecution that the way they handled the case "was wanting."

U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said the short sentences were justified given federal sentencing guidelines and said the case helped highlight the fight against steroids in sport.

"In 20 years of law enforcement, I don't think there has been a higher impact case that I have seen or been involved in," he told reporters. "This case galvanized the debate about steroids."

CONTE VOWS TO HELP

After leaving court, Conte pledged to help clamp down on doping in sports, but did not express regret for his own role. His prison sentence begins December 1.

"It is important to fully acknowledge that the current anti-doping programs are ineffective and this fact has contributed to the use-or-lose mentality that exists today," he said, reading from a statement.

"Even the so-called gold-standard anti-doping programs designed for Olympic-caliber athletes are ineffective, let alone the more inept programs that exist in professional sports."

Since the BALCO scandal, track and field star Marion Jones has faltered on the field and lost endorsement contracts, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport is considering a lifetime ban on former 100-meter world record holder Tim Montgomery.

Bonds' close ties to trainer Anderson have caused ballpark jeers as the slugger nears the all-time home run record.

So far, no athletes have been charged, but there are hints that related cases continue to be investigated. Bonds' former girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, who has testified before a federal grand jury, has said Bonds told her of his steroid use.

The attorney for Bonds, 41, the winner of a record seven Most Valuable Player awards, has said he never knowingly took steroids, but could have unknowingly used BALCO substances out of trust in his boyhood friend and trainer Anderson.

"I'm very sorry for my actions," Anderson told the judge. "There has not been one minute when I intended to harm anyone."

A fourth man in the BALCO case, Soviet-born track coach Remi Korchemny, who has admitted to wrongly dispensing a prescription drug, will be sentenced at a later date.

Source: REUTERS

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