Bruce Zaccaria has been detained without bail as an unacceptable “danger to the community” based solely on an allegation of selling 250 vials of anabolic steroids to bodybuilders who were members of a Houston-area 24 Hour Fitness almost two years ago. By contrast, a judge in an unrelated Dallas-area case apparently feels that a suicidal man firing a gun at police does not represent a threat to society.
Bruce Zaccaria’s pre-trial detention highlights the significant disparities in sentencing for defendants awaiting trial in Texas in court cases where anabolic steroids are involved.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Calvin Botley seems to have concluded that the safety of the community is at considerable risk from steroid use by bodybuilders. Judge Botley determined there were absolutely no conditions that could possibly protect the community from the dangerous Zaccaria if he were released on bail. Zaccaria was charged with conspiracy to manufacture/possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids punishable by up to 5 years in prison.
Meanwhile, a Dallas-area man threatening suicide under financial duress, fired a gun at Frisco Police officers, was arrested and released on $20,000 bail after a four-hour standoff with police special operations unit on June 28-29, 2009. Paul Bailey was charged with “aggravated assault with a deadly weapon” which is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years incarceration. Bailey was in possession of five bottles of anabolic steroids at his home, including nandrolone decanoate, testosterone cypionate and methandrostenolone. The courts did not feel that Bailey was a “danger to the community” even though his neighbors in the affluent Frisco subdivision of Lakes of Preston Vineyards feared for their safety after he was released (“Frisco police detail guns, steroids found in home after standoff,” July 8).
Items taken from Bailey’s home in the 6500 block of Winston Drive near Hillcrest Road and College Parkway included three bottles of Nandrolona 300, one bottle of Cypionato 200 and one bottle of Dianabolona 50. Versions of all three are listed as anabolic/androgenic steroids.
Also in police inventory: a .44-caliber Fillipietta black powder gun and a IMI-Uzi Eagle 9 mm gun with magazine. […]
According to an arrest affidavit, police were called to Bailey’s home just before 11:30 p.m. June 28 by his son, who said his father had lost his business and was threatening to harm himself. Records show Bailey works as a car dealer.
The two officers who responded knocked on the front door and, when there was no response, rang the doorbell. They said they could see Bailey inside the home through a window as he got up, went to the door and fired a handgun at it.
Different Texas judges may have different standards when determining pre-trial sentencing in unrelated cases when steroids are involved. However, NPC Texas Chairman Lee Thompson, NPC bodybuilder Bryan Barth, and NPC bodybuilder Brandon George, three of Zaccaria’s “co-defendants”, face identical steroid-related charges of conspiracy to manufacture/possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas yet were quickly released on either $50,000 or $75,000 unsecured bond. Brock Falkenhagen, the alleged ringleader of the conspiracy, was released on a on a $75,000 unsecured bond in spite of being charged with 44 counts and facing approximately 500 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
Bruce Zaccaria’s pre-trial detention (based on danger to community concerns) appears especially arbitrary and capricious when compared to co-defendants facing more serious charges not to mention co-defendant facing similar/identical charges. Zaccaria’s detention appears outright absurd when compared with the pre-trial release of a suicidal man willing to fire a gun at police that has his neighbors living in fear.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.