The head of the BALCO, the centre of a global sports steroid scandal, was Tuesday sentenced to four months in prison, a punishment the judge said was less than drug dealers get in less significant cases.US district judge Susan Illston approved a plea deal that will send BALCO head Victor Conte, 55, to prison for four months and home for four months of confinement. She then sentenced Greg Anderson, 39, baseball superstar Barry Bonds’ trainer, to prison for three months and three months home confinement for distributing steroids.“They were cheating on those rules and you helped them do that,” Illston told Conte, referring to professional athletes. BALCO owner Conte, his deputy, James Valente, 50, and Anderson admitted guilt to steroid distribution in July in pleas that knocked out almost all of the original charges. Valente was given three years probation and fined $3,000.News two years ago that BALCO was the source of a previously undetectable steroid prompted an effort across many sports to clamp down on performance-enhancing drugs.The scandal sullied top Sports names and raised questions about achievements such as new baseball home run records. The judge appeared to express frustration with the plea deal that gave Conte only four months behind bars, punishment she said was “way less significant than the consequences that I mete out every single day for crimes that are far less significant.”The US government unveiled the case with a splash in February 2004 with a news conference by then US attorney general John Ashcroft. At the time, officials said the 42-count indictment could result in years of prison time.Stars to dustSuperstars have fallen after the BALCO scandal.Marion Jones: The track and field queen has faltered and lost endorsement contracts. Tim Montgomery: The Court of Arbitration for Sport is considering a lifetime ban on the former 100 m world record-holder.Barry Bonds: The baseball superstar’s to trainer Anderson have caused ball-park jeers as the slugger nears the all-time home run record. NOTE: So far no athlete has been charged.
