BALCO Founder Conte Goes to Prison Today

Shav Glick, From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Los Angeles Times, CA

BALCO founder Victor Conte is to begin serving a four-month prison sentence today for orchestrating an illegal steroids distribution scheme that reportedly involved such athletes as Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi.

Conte was sentenced in October to four months in prison and four months' home confinement in a plea deal with federal prosecutors. He said he would report to a minimum security prison in Taft, Calif.

Conte founded and managed the Burlingame-based Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, where the steroids were sold. He pleaded guilty to money laundering and a steroid distribution charge, and dozens of other charges were dropped as part of his plea deal.

The lab counted dozens of prominent athletes among its clients, including baseball players Bonds and Giambi and Olympic track and field star Marion Jones, according to court records. None of the athletes named by Conte, some of whom testified before a grand jury, were charged in the scheme.