Guilty plea entered
in drug caseA police officer admits he
distributed human growth hormone
A Honolulu police officer pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to distributing human growth hormone.
Eddie Belluomini, 33, a patrolman for the past 10 years, pleaded to five counts, punishable by a maximum five years in prison.
Belluomini was indicted in May with distributing the human growth hormone on five occasions between November 2002 and last May. The charges stem from an investigation that began in September 2002 when an FBI informant reported purchasing steroids and Serostim from Belluomini.
Serostim is the trade name of a genetically engineered growth hormone that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration primarily to treat patients wasting from AIDS or to treat infant dwarfism.
It has become well known for its steroidlike qualities and has become popular with competitive bodybuilders.
Belluomini admitted yesterday that on the five occasions cited in the indictment, "I did give a human growth hormone to a friend of mine at the time" and that he knew they were for bodybuilding purposes.
According to investigators, Belluomini arrived in his police uniform, driving his private patrol car with the blue dome light, at one of those meetings.
Under a plea agreement, Belluomini has agreed to cooperate with the investigation, and prosecutors will ask for a reduction in his sentence based on early acceptance of responsibility, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Brady.
Belluomini is currently on leave from the department with pay. He remains free on bail awaiting sentencing on Nov. 22.
Belluomini, who is also a bodybuilder, competed in the Paradise Cup bodybuilding competition in November 2000 as a novice and took third place in the middleweight division.
In June 1998, Belluomini was awarded the Honolulu Police Department's Certificate of Merit for dissuading a man from jumping off a ledge.
