US track coach gets probation for role in BALCO steroid ring

February 26, 2006, Daily Times

SAN FRANCISCO: A US track and field coach was sentenced on Friday to a year of probation for providing illegal synthetic steroids to Olympic-caliber athletes, according to prosecutors.

The punishment was meted out under the terms of a plea bargain Remi Korchemny, 73, struck with federal prosecutors. Korchemny pleaded guilty in July to giving elite athletes illegal performance-enhancing drugs over two years ending in September 2003, according to the US Attorney’s Office. Korchemny trained the athletes in the San Francisco Bay area and got the drugs from Victor Conte, head of Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative, prosecutors said.

Among the drugs Korchemny admitted giving to athletes were a steroid-like derivative referred to as “The Cream” and a human growth hormone, according to Luke Macauley of the US Attorney’s Office in San Francisco. “This problem is ongoing as is further demonstrated by recent events at the current Winter Olympic games,” US Attorney Kevin Ryan said in a written release. “The continued focus on this problem by the Department of Justice and law enforcement serves as an important step towards the national and international goal of eradicating the use of illegal drugs in sports.” BALCO founder Conte was sentenced to four months in prison and an identical amount of time under house arrest as a result of a plea bargain with prosecutors.

Greg Anderson, who served as a personal trainer to US baseball slugger Barry Bonds, was sentenced to three months in prison, and BALCO vice president James Valente received three years’ probation in separate plea deals. Conte, Valente, Anderson and Korchemny were charged in February 2004 with conspiracy, money laundering and distribution of anabolic steroids. Korchemny pleaded guilty to one count of “misbranding of a drug while held for sale”. Korchemny was the final San Francisco-area member of the ring sentenced by US District Court Judge Susan Illston, but the trial of accused BALCO steroid chemist Patrick Arnold was poised to begin in her courtroom. Illston has delayed setting a trial date for Arnold in order to allow him and his lawyer, Nanci Clarence, to sift through the nearly 10,000 pages of evidence amassed by prosecutors. A target trial date will be the subject of a March hearing before Illston.

Arnold, who lives in the state of Illinois, pleaded not guilty on November 10 to charges of conspiring with Conte to distribute performance-enhancing drugs to US athletes. Arnold was free on $100,000 bail. The 39-year-old organic chemist allegedly tailored illegal performance-enhancing drugs for athletes. Information gathered during the BALCO investigation led federal agents to identify Arnold as “Clearman,” who designed and manufactured the illegal performance drug in Illinois, prosecutors claim. BALCO fallout tainted elite athletes such as sprinters Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones, as well as Bonds and another baseball player Jason Giambi.