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reprint or license thisExperts: Shortt case sends wrong signal
Doctor who provided steroids prosecuted, but pro athletes who took them aren’t
By RICK BRUNDRETT
rbrundrett@thestate.com
The federal government’s failure to charge any NFL players linked to Dr. James Shortt sends a message that professional athletes can get away with illegal steroid use, some experts say.
The former West Columbia physician is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in Columbia for conspiracy to distribute the muscle-building drugs. The 59-year-old California resident faces up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
Prosecutors in court papers said at least eight National Football League players received steroids and human growth hormones from Shortt over a three-year period for “performance enhancement.” Federal law bans the drugs for nonmedical purposes.
The players were not identified, though prosecutors have cited audio taped conversations between Shortt and three named current or former Carolina Panthers. At least six current or ex-Panthers have been linked to the case.
No football players have been charged, though prosecutors say the investigation is ongoing.
“There’s a message: I’m an athlete and can get away with it, but the guy who sold it can get into trouble,” said Dr. Gary Wadler, a nationally recognized expert on drug use in sports.
The New York University School of Medicine associate professor, who has assisted the World Anti-Doping Agency, examined the medical records of six NFL players in the Shortt case at the request of prosecutors. He declined to name the players, citing federal privacy laws.
Reggie Lloyd, the U.S. attorney for South Carolina, said that in many drug investigations, users often are not prosecuted because “their cooperation was needed to root out a bigger problem.”
Lloyd declined to discuss specifics of the Shortt case. But he said the fact that a suspect is a professional athlete would have no bearing on whether his office decided to seek charges.
“That’s always been my mantra: You don’t treat people differently based on what neighborhood they live in,” he said.
Few, if any, professional athletes have faced federal steroids charges since the drug was designated in 1990 as a controlled substance.
Kevin McDonald, the general crimes section chief in Lloyd’s office, said the conspiracy count against Shortt involves NFL players, as well as some of the 42 distribution counts that were dismissed, though he declined to discuss specifics.
In audio tapes Shortt recorded during office visits, he discussed performance-enhancing drugs with former Carolina Panthers tight end Wesley Walls, former punter Todd Sauerbrun and current center Jeff Mitchell. Efforts to reach the players and Panthers officials were unsuccessful.
Former Panthers offensive tackle Todd Steussie, former defensive lineman John Milem and retired guard Kevin Donnalley also have been linked to the case.
In an interview last year on HBO’s “CostasNow” program, Shortt said he treated about 18 NFL players, providing about half with anabolic steroids and most with human growth hormones.
Under federal law, simple possession of steroids for nonmedical purposes carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a minimum $1,000 fine for a first offense. Distribution of steroids carries a maximum five-year sentence and $250,000 fine; distribution of human growth hormones also carries a maximum five-year sentence.
Rusty Payne, a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said his agency has conducted about 100 steroid investigations nationwide over the past three years. For this fiscal year, the Atlanta field division, which includes the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee, has handled seven cases, he said.
But Payne couldn’t cite any recent steroids charges against a big league player in any professional sport. He said his agency concentrates mainly on steroid manufacturers and major traffickers, noting, for example, the December arrest of the owner of three of the world’s largest anabolic steroid manufacturers.
He added, though, that anyone possessing steroids is “risking arrest and prosecution.”
Wadler said prosecutors in the Shortt case might have had good reasons for not seeking charges against the NFL players.
But Wadler, who testified last year before Congress on steroids abuse in professional football and baseball, said charges should be brought against players when possible.
“It would send out a chilling message to athletes,” he said.
Heather Reid, an associate philosophy professor at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, and president of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport, said prosecuting professional athletes who illegally use performance-enhancing drugs would help set a moral standard for young athletes.
“They are role models, whether they like it or not,” she said.
In a recent motion in the Shortt case, federal prosecutors noted the athletes who came to Shortt for performance-enhancing drugs “were and are regarded as role models by thousands of young people who aspire to achieve the same levels of success and recognition in their own lives.”
Reid said authorities should prosecute professional athletes who abuse drugs because their team owners often won’t do anything if they have a significant financial investment in the players.
Reach Brundrett at (803) 771-8484.
