Steroids Blog on Steroids RX.com

BALCO Prosecutors Plotting Next Phase of Steroid Inquistion in Spite of President Obama's Concern with More Important Issues

United States District Judge Susan Illston sentenced former NFL defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield to two years straight probation for lying to federal investigators about his use of performance-enhancing drugs obtained from the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO). Federal prosecutors have become accustomed to the lenient sentences handed out by Judge Illston to athletes convicted in the BALCO investigation. Federal prosecutors have recommended harsher sentences only to be thwarted by judge-mandated sentences involving little or no prison time. But in the case of Dana Stubblefield, federal prosecutors got exactly what they want: straight probation and no prison time or home confinement. Why were prosecutors so generous with Stubblefield?

Court documents reveal that former NFL player Dana Stubblefield provided “substantial cooperation” that includes the names of football players and trainers involved in “ongoing” anabolic steroid use and distribution. The information obtained from Dana Stubblefield suggests the BALCO investigation may be far from over if left up to BALCO prosecutors. Court documents give a good indication to the next phase of the BALCO investigation. Federal officials may be plotting a steroid inquisition in the National Football League (NFL) utilizing the information provided by Stubblefield. The nature of the information was explicitly detailed in a February 2, 2009 sentencing memorandum filed against former NFL player Dana Stubblefield.

The BALCO investigation, whose primary target has been MLB home run king Barry Bonds, has cost taxpayers in the United States over $55 million and counting. Expanding the steroid witch-hunt into the National Football League could result in the waste of several additional millions of dollars during one of the deepest economic recessions in the history of the United States.

Joseph Russoniello, Matthew Parrella, Jeffrey Nedrow, et al. in the United States Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California (San Francisco Division) apparently have no intentions of stopping their anti-steroid crusade in professional sports. Sadly, the prosecutors have spent millions of dollars of other people’s money on steroid investigations arising out of the BALCO steroid scandal with very little to show for it. Perhaps the internal metric used to measure the successes of the BALCO prosecutions is based on the number of athletes they can publicly link to anabolic steroids rather than the number of convictions with meaningful sentences?

“When you step back, you really do have to wonder what’s going on,” Professor Carl Tobias of University of Richmond School of Law reacted to the continuing steroid inquisition. “Why are they so aggressive? Why have they spent so much money, and to what end? I don’t know what the point is anymore.”

President Barrack Obama made it very clear that he believes the federal government has significantly more important issues to face rather than identifying steroid users in professional sports. “We’ve got nuclear weapons and a financial meltdown to worry about,” Obama explains. “We shouldn’t be worrying about steroids as much as I think sometimes we do.”

During his presidential campaign, Obama expressed the belief that the federal government should focus on more important priorities like the economy and national security rather than the identification of individual steroid users. Many expected President Obama would instruct the U.S. Attorney’s Office to stop spending inordinate resources investigating anabolic steroid users in sports. Instead, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California has shown a blatant disrespect for President Obama.

President Obama is eventually expected to shift Justice Department resources away from steroids in sports investigations. Many experts believe that once key leadership positions in law enforcement are filled, they will re-evaluate the steroid investigations by federal prosecutors. In the meantime, steroid crusading prosecutors are targeting steroids in the NFL. The tentacles of the BALCO investigation continue to meander throughout professional sports while Obama seems to be dragging his feet.

Sources

“Steroids in the NFL Next Target for Government Witch-Hunt,” February 7, 2009

”Stubblefield cooperating in feds’ probe,” February 6, 2009

“Focus on Bonds Misses the Big Picture,” February 5, 2009

“United States of America v. Dana Stubblefield: Sentencing Memorandum CR 08-0004-SI,” February 2, 2009

”Obama Differs from McCain on Steroids,” October 2, 2008

By Millard Baker

http://www.millardbaker.com

www.SteroidsRx.com