IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Miguel Neil Sentenced to 44 Years in Prison for Armed Robbery and Kidnapping

Former IFBB professional bodybuilder Miguel Neil was sentenced to 44 years in prison after being found guilty on numerous armed robbery and kidnapping charges. The sentence could very well mean that the 43-year old Neil will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Neil's friends and family had urged Neil to somehow blame his heavy use of anabolic steroids for the events that led to a crime spree that included the robbery of at least 15 local businesses in the greater Columbus area in 2011 and 2012. Local news reports gave conflicting accounts as to whether Neil tried to use steroids as an excuse.

According to The Columbus Dispatch, Neil refused to play the blame game and said "he would not use [steroids] as an excuse". However, Lisa Rantala, a reporter with at ABC6/FOX28, reported something entirely different.

"In the simplest of terms, he called it roid rage," Rantala reported. "He said he need money to supply a major steroid habit and he was doing anything to get it."

While the use of anabolic steroids and various other performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) are pervasive in competitive bodybuilding and mandatory at the highest levels of the sport, Neil had an extensive criminal history that spanned his adult life long before he ever discovered bodybuilding.

Neil had already served four prison sentences. They included 7 months for receiving stolen property in 1991, almost 2 years for theft and receiving stolen property in 1992, 6 months for attempted burglary in 1997 and 5 years for bank robbery in 1998.

Neil had seemingly turned his life around when he got out of prison in 2005. He started bodybuilding seriously and got a job as a personal trainer at Powell Fitness in Columbus. He soon started competing and by 2007, Neil was already one of the top amateur bodybuilders in the world.

Neil won the 2007 Arnold Amateur bodybuilding championships with Arnold Schwarzenegger presenting the awards. Within three years, Neil earned his “pro card” in the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) organization with a 1st place victory in the light-heavyweight division at the 2011 NPC Nationals Bodybuilding Championships.

Neil's success as a bodybuilder and as a seemingly reformed former inmate was an inspiration to many of the inmates at the prisons where he had previously spent time.

“I was a success story,” Neil said in court. “I was in [bodybuilding] magazines. I was an inspiration to guys in the institution.”

Neil had every opportunity to fulfill his dream of making a living as a pro bodybuilder. Kim Larosa, the owner of Powell's Fitness and Neil's former employer for 5 years, said the mild-mannered personal trainer was the consummate professional who was polite to staff and completely dedicated to his clients.

For reasons that were never fully explained, Neil was regrettably unable to put his life of crime behind him.

On November 15, 2012, Neil was tazed and arrested by officers at the Footsteps Family Dance Center as young children watched. Neil had just robbed the nearby Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles office while donning a mask and brandishing a (pellet) gun. One of the employees at the BMV was a woman who was in the midst of a difficult pregnancy; she testified as Neil's sentencing hearing to the horrors she experienced.

Neil was already under surveillance as a suspect in a string of other robberies including the robbery of a Wendy's fast-food hamburger restaurant in Westerville one week earlier. Neil had stolen $160 from Wendy's. 

Neil was convicted on 36 counts, including 10 felonies, related to the 15 robberies. He faced up to 120 years in prison. He was offered a plea bargain agreement prior to his trial that would have recommended a 25-year sentence; he was also offered a 30-year plea bargain agreement during his trial. Neil rejected both against the advice of his defense attorney.

Common Pleas Judge David W. Fais ended up sentencing him to 44 years in prison. Neil is not eligible for early release due to his lengthy criminal history. Including time served in Franklin County jail, Neil will be released from prison no earlier 2056. If Neil lives that long, he will be 85 years old.

Source:

Futty, J. (October 30, 2014). Ex-bodybuilding champ gets 44-year term. Retrieved from http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/10/29/Former_bodybuilder_sentenced.html

Rantala, L. (October 29, 2014). Body Builder Faults Steroids for Robbery Spree. Retrieved from http://www.myfox28columbus.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/Body-Builder-Faults-Steroids-for-Robbery-Spree-54135.shtml