Chemist linked to BALCO indicted in San Francisco

By Adam Tanner

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A U.S. grand jury in San
Francisco on Thursday indicted an Illinois chemist suspected of
supplying a previously undetectable steroid to the BALCO lab in
a global scandal that tarnished some top names in sport.

The indictment, coming just weeks after the head of BALCO
and a man who was baseball superstar Barry Bonds’ friend and
personal trainer were sentenced to prison, shows the government
has widened its focus in the scandal. To date, the BALCO case
had led to charges against only middlemen, not those suspected
of being original suppliers or end users.

The grand jury indicted Patrick Arnold, 39, of Champaign,
Illinois, on three counts, including conspiracy to distribute
steroids with BALCO head Victor Conte, as well as the
introduction and delivery of THG, a steroid that was
undetectable by sports testing.

“Today, we have taken another important step in the ongoing
effort to eliminate the use of illegal performance enhancing
drugs in sports,” U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said.

Through his lawyers, Arnold, whose name was mentioned in
earlier BALCO court papers but who was not previously charged,
denied the allegations.

“Patrick Arnold is a respected chemist and researcher in
the field of nutritional supplements,” lawyer Nanci Clarence
said in a statement. “He is not guilty and will defend these
charges vigorously in a court of law, not in the press. He
looks forward to his day in court.”

The indictment quoted an August 2005 Internet posting by
Arnold on the Web site bodybuilding.com as expressing little
concern about the BALCO investigation.

“Really, as much as the feds may want to make an example of
me, with the way the law is written there is not much that can
be done,” he wrote. “Certainly they may make a media and
political controversy out of it. But I don’t care.”

The discovery of THG in 2003, a specially designed anabolic
steroid tweaked by chemists to make it undetectable under
normal testing, shocked the world of sport and prompted an
effort to clamp down on performance-enhancing drugs.

Links to BALCO, a San Francisco-area lab that described
itself as providing nutritional advice and tests, have
tarnished stars such as baseball’s single-season home-run
record holder Bonds and track and field star Marion Jones.
Jones has categorically denied using steroids. Bonds’ lawyer
says he could have inadvertently used BALCO substances provided
by his trainer.

The latest indictment charges Arnold with devising THG as
well as norbolethone and desoxymethyltestosterone, known as DMT
or “Madol.” Investigators searched his home and the business he
helps operate, Proviant Technologies, in September.

The indictment says Arnold likely made THG from gestrinone,
a steroid it alleges he spent thousands of dollars buying from
China over two years. It says he then supplied the final
product to Conte at BALCO.

Last month, Conte was sentenced to four months in prison
and four months’ home confinement. Greg Anderson, who was
Bonds’ trainer, was sentenced to three months in prison and
three months home confinement.

Conte, who has not begun his prison sentence, did not
return an e-mail request for comment.