Report: Former Met employee admits to distributing steroids
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 10:33 pm
Since last summer, Sports Illustrated reporters Luis Fernando Llosa and L. Jon Wertheim have been investigating an alleged illegal steroid distribution network that has implicated pro athletes.
SI.com: What's the latest?
Llosa/Wertheim: Today, the IRS agents, FBI and U.S. Attorneys office in California that pursued the BALCO case made a significant announcement. Kirk J. Radomski, a New York Mets clubhouse employee between 1985 and 1995, has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in San Francisco to distribution of a controlled substance -- a schedule three anabolic steroid -- to "dozens of Major Leaguers on teams throughout the league." He also pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering. (Combined, these charges are punishable by a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.)
Earlier this spring, the steroid-related news pertained to the break-up of a distribution chain linking the Internet sites to anti-aging clinics and compound pharmacies. Now, the BALCO investigative team is back in the picture.
SI.com: Have any baseball players implicated by Radomski been named?
Llosa/Wertheim: None have been named yet. But stay tuned. The documents we reviewed -- an affidavit for an application for a search warrant -- indicates that: "Numerous significant deposits from current and former [Major League Baseball] players and some affiliated individuals" were made to Radomski. According to the documents, he received more than $23,000 in more than 20 different payments between 2003 and 2005 that are alleged to have been made in conjunction with steroids purchases. Already cell phone numbers belonging to current and former MLB players have been identified.
SI.com: How does this tie in to BALCO?
Llosa/Wertheim: At least one Major League baseball player associated with BALCO has also been implicated in this investigation. An investigator working on the case called Radomski a "major drug source in professional baseball now that the BALCO lab has been taken down."
SI.com: What performance enhancing drugs did Radomski distribute?
Llosa/Wertheim: The guilty plea was made in conjunction with testosterone, a schedule three steroid. But, through recorded conversations, investigators also allege that Radomski distributed HGH (human growth hormone), Deca-durabolin, amphetamines and testosterone.
In his written plea agreement, Radomski states, "Beginning in approximately 1995 and continuing through until December 14, 2005, when a search warrant was executed at my residence, I distributed anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, including Human Growth Hormone and Clenbuterol, as well as amphetamines, to dozens of current and former Major League Baseball players (on teams spread throughout Major League Baseball) and associates. I deposited the payments for those anabolic steroids into my personal bank account and I then used the proceeds to finance my residence, which was the base of operation, warehouse, and communications center for my anabolic steroid-dealing business."
