BALCO Founder Gets Eight Months

(AP)  Victor Conte was sentenced to four months in prison and four months' home confinement Tuesday for his role as the mastermind in a scheme to provide pro athletes with undetectable banned drugs.

Conte, who negotiated a plea deal with federal prosecutors, started the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. The lab, according to court records, counted dozens of prominent athletes among its clients, including Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Marion Jones and others.

James Valente, BALCO's vice president, was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to reduced charges of steroid distribution. Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds' trainer, was sentenced to three months behind bars and three months in home confinement after pleading guilty to money laundering and a steroid distribution charge.

The case prompted pro sports to stiffen steroid policies and thrust performance-enhancing drugs into the spotlight. THG, a once-unknown steroid discovered in the investigation, is now banned throughout sports.

Conte pleaded guilty in July to money laundering and a steroid distribution charge; dozens of counts were dropped. Anderson and Conte remain free on bond and are scheduled to surrender to prison authorities Dec. 1.

U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan in San Francisco has said the plea deals were spurred in part by weak steroid laws and by the fact that some of the chemicals were not banned at the time.

Track coach Remi Korchemny is expected to get probation at a later sentencing date.

Still, authorities are now taking aim at the alleged BALCO suppliers.

Last month, the authorities raided a laboratory in Champaign, Ill., headed by Patrick Arnold, who's known for introducing the steroid precursor androstenedione to the U.S. Andro came to public attention in 1998 when St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire said he used it when breaking baseball's home run record.