I guess Patrick Arnold will be the hook up in the pen for awhile...

Illinois Man Pleads Guilty to Making Balco's Steroid (Update1)

April 28 (Bloomberg) -- An Illinois chemist pleaded guilty to making and distributing the steroid known as ``the Clear,'' in a U.S. probe into the use of performance enhancing drugs by athletes including baseball player Barry Bonds.

Patrick Arnold, 39, identified by prosecutors as the creator of the Clear, told U.S. District Judge Susan Illston today in San Francisco that he made three types of steroids for Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, the California lab at the center of the U.S. probe. Arnold said he knew the lab's owner, Victor Conte, was distributing them to athletes.

``And you also distributed them personally to athletes and coaches?'' Illston asked Arnold.

``I distributed them to coaches,'' Arnold replied.

``What about athletes?'' she said.

``And athletes,'' Arnold said, without identifying the athletes he gave the drugs to.

Arnold is the fifth person to plead guilty in the Balco probe. Conte, Greg Anderson, Bond's personal trainer, and track coach Remi Korchemny have pleaded guilty to giving anabolic steroids to athletes and money laundering. Bonds, the San Francisco Giant's outfielder, has denied taking steroids. No athletes have been charged in the probe.

Arnold, a resident of Champaign, Illinois, was indicted in November on three counts of conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and misbranding drugs. He pleaded guilty today to a single count of conspiracy to distribute three substances. The U.S. agreed to recommend a sentence of 3 months in jail and 3 months home detention.

Won't Cooperate

``Patrick has fully accounted for the part he played in this case and we are satisfied with the resolution,'' said Nanci Clarence, Arnold's attorney, in a statement. She told Illston that that Arnold hasn't agreed to cooperate with the U.S. as part of his plea agreement.

Arnold said that between June 2000 and September 2003, he manufactured steroids professional athletes could take to boost their performance without detection under drug testing. He told Illston he made tetrahydragestrinone, a once-undetectable steroid as ``The Clear,'' desoxymethyltestosterone, also known as ``DMT,'' or ``Madol'' and norbolethone, an anabolic steroid.

Arnold knew that Conte was distributing steroids to professional football and baseball players and Olympic-caliber track and field athletes, prosecutors said.

In May 2002, he sent an e-mail to Balco telling Conte that athletes taking norbolethone should stop after he learned that drug testing authorities were developing ways to detect it.

``Mr. Arnold's admissions today in court confirms his role at the creator and distributor of undetectable steroids to the operators of the Balco labs and other professional athletes,'' said San Francisco U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan in a statement.

Arnold is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 4.

The case is U.S. v. Arnold, 05-703, U.S. District Court Northern District of California, San Francisco.

To contact the reporter on this story:Karen Gullo in San Francisco at [email protected].

Last Updated: April 28, 2006 16:07 EDT