Track Coach Trevor Graham Pleads Innocent in Steroid Probe, By: Karen Gullo
Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Track coach Trevor Graham, who helped spark a U.S. government inquiry into steroid use by athletes, pleaded innocent to charges he lied to federal agents in the probe.
Graham, coach to Olympic sprinters Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin, was released today on a $25,000 bond by U.S. Magistrate Edward Chen in San Francisco. He was charged Nov. 2 with three counts of making false statements.
``He'll be vindicated,'' Gail Shifman, Graham's attorney, said after today's hearing.
Graham was a witness in a federal investigation into Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, a Burlingame, California, lab known as Balco, the U.S. Attorney said. The lab's founder and four others, including Greg Anderson, trainer to baseball player Barry Bonds, have pleaded guilty to distributing steroids. No athletes have been charged and Bonds has denied using steroids.
Graham obtained illegal performance-enhancing drugs from an unidentified source and lied about it to U.S. Internal Revenue Service agents who interviewed him in June 2004, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco. Graham also lied about his contacts with the supplier, the statement said.
The charges each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Graham, who is based in North Carolina, wasn't charged with distributing steroids.
Olympic Ban
The U.S. Olympic Committee banned Graham from its training centers Aug. 3, the first time the organization has levied such a penalty, after Olympic 100-meters champion Gatlin tested positive for testosterone at a meet in April.
Gatlin faces an eight-year ban after failing a second drug test in August. Jones was cleared of using banned substances. Graham also is being investigated by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Graham is fighting the Olympic ban and Gatlin has denied wrongdoing.
Graham has also trained twins Alvin and Calvin Harrison, Jerome Young, Michelle Collins and Tim Montgomery, who all received doping suspensions.
The San Francisco U.S. Attorney's Office launched an investigation three years ago into steroid use by athletes. The probe was sparked in part by Graham, who anonymously mailed a syringe containing a sample of tetrahydrogestrinone, known as THG or the Clear, a synthetic ``designer steroid'' that was once undetectable and is banned in baseball.
``I was just a coach doing the right thing at the time,'' Graham said in a 2004 interview with the Associated Press.
Graham had been granted immunity from prosecution before his interviews with the IRS. The agreement didn't include immunity from prosecutor for making false statements, prosecutors said.
The case is U.S. v Trevor Graham, 06-0725, U.S. District Court, San Francisco.
