Ex-cop is sentenced
to 3 years’ probation

The ex-bodybuilder admitted
trafficking in growth hormones

Eddie Belluomini always wanted to be a cop, and for 12 years he served as a Honolulu police officer.

So the worst punishment he could get was to resign from the department and job he enjoyed so much, said his attorney, Michael Green. Belluomini stepped down in June, about a year after he was caught and indicted for distributing human growth hormones to an undercover FBI agent.

Green said that even before Belluomini faced Chief U.S. District Judge David Ezra to be sentenced yesterday, his punishment had already been meted out.

Ezra ordered Belluomini, 33, to serve three years' probation on each of five counts of distributing human growth hormones, to be served at the same time. Citing the seriousness of the offense, Ezra also ordered Belluomini to serve six months of home confinement and pay a $1,000 fine.

Belluomini, who pleaded guilty to the five counts in February, broke down yesterday, saying he was embarrassed and ashamed to be standing before the court.

"I'm 100 percent sorry for my actions," he said.

"It was an honor to be a policeman, serve my community," he said, calling his work his "dream job."

A former bodybuilder, Belluomini attributed his downfall to getting caught up with his hobby. He apologized to his family, the Honolulu Police Department and fellow officers for the taint his actions have inadvertently brought upon them.

"I wish I took the time to even sit back and think what I was doing. Deep down, I knew it was wrong," he said. "It's been a hard lesson to learn."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Loretta Sheehan said the federal government began stepping up its fight against distribution of human growth hormones not only because of the danger it poses to those who take it, but because AIDS patients who use it for its steroidlike qualities are selling their supplies just so they can pay their rent.

She supported a sentence for probation although Belluomini had distributed the steroids while on duty and used his blue-and-white patrol car.

Ezra said he supports the federal government's efforts to pursue these cases more vigorously because of the havoc growth hormones can wreak on a person's health.

"This is a very, very serious problem, and I think the fact that athletes on a national level are being disqualified for using illegal substances is an indication that this is a problem that is not going away," he said.

"I think he lost perspective, and as a law enforcement officer, you can't lose perspective, particularly on something this serious," Ezra said.