SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -A former clubhouse attendant who implicated dozens of major leaguers in the use of performance-enhancing drugs plans to ask a federal judge for leniency Friday after pleading guilty to distributing steroids and laundering money.
Kirk Radomski agreed to cooperate with government investigators and baseball officials after a federal raid on his house. The former New York Mets employee led investigators to Brian McNamee, the former Yankees strength coach who claimed he injected Roger Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone at least 16 times from 1998 to 2001, an allegation the pitcher vehemently denies.
After his cooperation, Radomski hopes a judge will sentence him Friday to probation rather than prison. In April, he admitted selling speed, steroids and HGH to dozens of players from 1995 until Dec. 14, 2005, when agents raided his Long Island home.
tor George Mitchell as part of his plea bargain and spoke with the Boston Red Sox director four times, with federal prosecutors attending meetings. If prosecutors feel that Radomski’s cooperation is significant, they could ask the judge to mete out a lenient sentence.
“If the government does file that motion, it will show that he substantially assisted the investigation,” said Thomas Buchanan, a Washington lawyer who assisted on baseball’s 1989 Pete Rose investigation. “He also appears to have cooperated extensively with the Mitchell report.”
Given his lack of prior offenses and his extensive cooperation, Radomski faces no more than six months in prison. His lawyer John Reilly, in court papers filed Wednesday, asked U.S. District Judge Susan Illston to sentence Radomski to probation.
“Mr. Radomski has very seriously tried to redeem himself and his redemption started on day one when he met with the federal authorities, admitted his guilt and agreed to cooperate,” the filing stated. “Mr. Radomski’s cooperation with the government may in some way assist in changing the face of major league baseball as it exists today.”
According to the filing, Radomski took out a mortgage on his Long Island home to open the Pro Touch Detail Center in St. James, N.Y. His lawyer argued that Radomski needs to stay out of prison to operate the business and support his wife and 8-year-old daughter, Paige.
‘s heart and soul, and I am extremely concerned about how this may affect her,” Radomski’s sister-in-law Nicole Gaskill wrote the judge in January, pleading for probation. “Ultimately, I am afraid of what removing him from her life would do to her.”
Radomski’s downfall began in February 2005 when a person charged with real estate fraud who had a baseball contact agreed to work undercover with the FBI in exchange for leniency. The informant’s contact put that person in touch with Radomski. The informant bought steroids and made numerous telephone calls to Radomski throughout 2005, with federal investigators watching and listening the entire time.
The informant told investigators that Radomski became the biggest steroid supplier to baseball players in 2003 after federal authorities shut down the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, which was the headquarters of a performance-enhancing drug ring catering to elite athletes.
Radomski is scheduled to testify before Congress on Wednesday along with Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch and McNamee.
Barry Bonds, who has pleaded not guilty to four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction for allegedly lying to a grand jury about steroid use, also had a hearing scheduled for Friday. Bonds’ session was rescheduled for Feb. 29.
Bonds’ attorneys filed court papers last month arguing that Bonds was asked confusing and repetitive questions during his appearance before the grand jury and should have his case dismissed.
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