Steroids Blog on Steroids RX.com

<!-- .style1 {font-weight: bold} .style3 {font-weight: bold} -->

Tejada Refused to Tell Congressional Investigators What He Knew About Steroids in Baseball

Major League baseball player Miguel Tejada was sentenced to one year probation and 100 hours of community service for the charge of making misrepresentations to Congress. Tejada pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge in February 2009; the Dominican Republic citizen faced up to six months in prison and deportation for refusing to tell Congressional investigators what he knew about steroid use in professional baseball.

The steroid witch-hunt that has swept through professional sports over the past several years has focused primarily on making an example out of athletes who allegedly used anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) such as human growth hormone (HGH). Federal prosecutors have found the Anabolic Steroid Control Act (which criminalizes the use and distribution of steroids) to be ineffective at making examples out of steroid-using athletes. Prosecutors have resorted to the use (arguably the misuse and abuse) of federal perjury laws to indict baseball players and other athletes suspected of using PEDs.

Miguel Tejada represents a unique case. Tejada has denied ever using any banned performance enhancing substance. The federal government has not accused Tejada of using steroids or even lying about his use of steroids. The government has explicitly admitted there is not sufficient evidence to prove that Tejada ever used steroids. He was not accused of perjury i.e. lying under oath. Instead, Tejada was accused of lying to Congressional investigators about his knowledge of steroid use by others in the MLB and his discussions with other MLB players about steroids.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia felt it was worthwhile to charge Miguel Tejada for lying to Congressional investigators when he told them that he had never used anabolic steroids nor had he any knowledge of other baseball players using (or even talking about). Tejada had denied awareness of any such discussions among his teammates or any participation in any such discussions during an August 26, 2005 interview (not under oath) with Congressional Committee interrogators.

Committee Staff: Has there been discussions among other players about steroids?

TEJADA: No, I never heard.

Committee Staff: You never heard any of that?

TEJADA: No. […]

Committee Staff: When you were playing with the Oakland A’s, they had a reputation in some places as a place where a lot of players used steroids; were you aware of that? […]

TEJADA: No.

Committee Staff: You never knew of any other player using steroids?

TEJADA: No.

Committee Staff: Or just that it was even an issue for some players? […]

TEJADA: I didn’t know any player.

The “Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball” (“The Mitchell Report”) contained information that contradicted Tejada’s denials of steroid use among professional baseball players.

In 2003, Adam Piatt's locker was located next to Tejada's in the Oakland Athletics clubhouse. According to Piatt, Tejada asked specifically if he had any steroids. Piatt believed that Tejada asked him because Piatt was in good shape and generally friendly with him.

Piatt had several conversations with Tejada before a transaction occurred. Piatt admitted he had access to steroids and human growth hormone and agreed to obtain them for Tejada. Piatt recalled that he provided Tejada with testosterone or Deca-Durabolin, as well as human growth hormone. Piatt emphasized that he did not know whether Tejada actually used the substances.

Piatt's bank provided two checks deposited into Piatt's account that had been written to him from Miguel Tejada. The checks are dated March 21,2003 and are in the amounts of 53,100 and $3,200 respectively.

In light of the apparent contradictions, the leading steroid grandstander in Congress, Henry Waxman, requested that the Justice Department investigate whether Tejada lied to the House committee regarding his connections to Rafael Palmeiro. Palmeiro had accused Tejada of giving him a contaminated bottle of injectable Vitamin B-12 that allegedly caused him to test positive for stanozolol, the active ingredient in Winstrol. The government could not prove that Tejada ever used testosterone, Deca Durabolin or HGH; so they sought to prove he lied about ever talking to his teammate Adam Piatt about steroids.

Once the government obtained a conviction via Tejada’s guilty plea, federal prosecutors had nothing but praise for Miguel Tejada. U.S. Attorney Steven Durham thought Tejada was a wonderful and inspirational person who did not deserve to go to jail (but apparently only deserved to be subject to steroid trial in the court of public opinion):

He overcame extremely difficult economic circumstances in his childhood and, through considerable effort and dedication, became distinguished in his chosen profession. Others in his profession have described him as hard working, caring, and willing to share his time and knowledge with younger players and members of the public. He has given back to the community in which he was raised. He has maintained steady employment as a professional baseball player since 1993 and has been able to earn a substantial amount of money, a portion of which he has given to his father and his extended family in the Dominican Republic. He continues his ability to work, earn a regular income, and make positive contributions to society.

The praise of Tejada’s inspirational life story leads one to question why the government chose to prosecute Tejada in the first place. U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Alan Kay provides the answer and explained that Miguel Tejada’s misrepresentations to Congress threatened to jeopardize the entire institution of professional baseball!

"Your achievements do not minimize the seriousness of the violation that brings you before the court," Judge Kay told Tejada. According to Judge Kay, Congressional committees investigating steroids in baseball "were trying to protect the support that provides you and your fellow baseball players with a living."

Miguel Tejada apparently thwarted Congressional investigators who had the noble goal of protecting baseball from destruction by the villainous enemy represented by steroids.

It is beyond laughable that the government takes the steroid witch-hunt in baseball so seriously. The use of anabolic steroids in professional baseball has been a focal issue for Congressional leaders and federal prosecutors for several years. Prosecutors have somehow justified pursuing the relatively trivial issue of steroids in sports in spite of several major economic and financial issues facing our country. The government has found it worthwhile to pursue not only athletes who lie about their alleged steroid use but also athletes lie about fellow teammates who use steroids.

Sources

“Tejada sentenced to probation, community service,” March 26, 2009

“Tejada To Plead He Lied In Inquiry,” February 11, 2009

“FBI Begins Preliminary Inquiry Into Miguel Tejada's Steroids Testimony,” January 17, 2008

“Miguel Tejada excerpt from Mitchell Report,” December 13, 2007

 

By Millard Baker

http://www.millardbaker.com

www.steroidsrx.com