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Doping-Mets ex-bat boy says sold players steroids

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-04-28 13:53

A former New York Mets bat boy pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to distributing performance-enhancing drugs to dozens of Major League Baseball players for a decade, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Kirk Radomski, 37, who worked as an equipment manager and clubhouse assistant for the Mets from 1985 to 1995, admitted in a plea agreement filed in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California to selling banned drugs including anabolic steroids, amphetamines and human growth hormone from 1995 through 2005.

"This investigation shows that distribution of performance-enhancing drugs continues to be an issue for sport in America," said Scott Schools, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California.

Schools' office of the U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted the earlier BALCO sports steroid cases and continues to investigate San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds on possible perjury charges regarding his testimony to a federal grand jury.

No players or clients were identified in the Radomski case, but in his plea agreement he said he had distributed to dozens of players from different teams of Major League Baseball. He said he conducted his drug business from his home through personal contact, telephone and mail.

"During my past employment in Major League Baseball, I developed contacts with Major League Baseball players throughout the country to whom I subsequently distributed anabolic steroids and athletic performance-enhancing drugs," Radomski said in his plea agreement.

He cited one instance in which he received $2,000 after shipping steroids to an address in Northern California.

Radomski also admitted laundering money from those transactions. The two felony charges carry a potential total sentence of up to 25 years in prison and $500,000 in fines, the U.S. attorney's office said in a statement. He is due to be sentenced in September.

Radomski agreed to cooperate with federal investigators, including undercover work, and help in an investigation into steroid use in baseball being led by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.

"We look forward to working together with federal law enforcement toward our shared goal of dealing effectively with illegal performance-enhancing drug use in baseball," Mitchell said in a statement.