Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 20, 1994                   TAG: 9407200071
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

SOME RADFORD STEROID CHARGES ARE THROWN OUT; SOME STAND

However, General District Judge John Quigley ruled there was enough evidence to convict the four men of a second charge of conspiring to obtain steroids. He took the conspiracy charges under advisement for two years and ordered the four to complete 200 hours of community service.

The four men were each charged with two misdemeanors in May as a result of a state and federal investigation dating back to June 1993. At that time, Michael R. Conner, a Radford University senior, was charged with illegally importing anabolic steroids with intent to distribute.

Conner, who was prosecuted in federal court in Roanoke, is on probation and must complete 100 hours of community service. He reluctantly testified against the men - some whom he said were fraternity brothers and all of whom he knew through their memberships in a downtown Radford gym.

Defense attorneys Dick Davis and Robbie Jenkins were successful in getting the attempted possession charges thrown out after pointing out that receipts proving the chain of custody on the steroids, as they were sent off for testing and then held for evidence, had inconsistent information.

Conner was charged after U.S. Customs agents traced a mailed package of steroids to Conner's address last spring and rigged it with an electronic device that would alert them when it was opened. Police went to his apartment armed with a search warrant and found him with the opened package, according to court records.

Commonwealth's Attorney Randal Duncan introduced several pages of loose-leaf notebook paper federal agents confiscated from Conner's bedroom. Conner testified Monday he had either received money from or expected to receive money from people on the list in exchange for steroids, which were ordered from England. Conner estimated he placed a $5,000 order and planned to sell $2,000 of the order. The rest was for himself.

The four men who will have to complete 200 hours of community service are: Kevin W. Matthews, 24, of Radford; Aaron Allen Peters, 21, of Woodbridge; Brian Vincent Smith, 25, of Sterling; and Daniel Ray Stallard Jr. of Salem.

A conspiracy charge against a fifth man, Marc Andrew Johnson, 22, of Reston was dismissed. Quigley ruled there was not sufficient evidence Johnson had placed an order with Conner or expected to pay Conner for any steroids.

Conner and Johnson both testified that Johnson had only expressed an interest, that he did not pay Conner and that their conversation had taken place months before Conner ordered the steroid shipment.

Conner testified he was unsure about many of the notations on his list he had made because the notes had been made about 11/2 years ago. "I'm not positive about anybody on the list except myself," Conner said at one point.

Each defendant except Peters took the stand and denied any conspiracy with Conner.

Peters' case had been continued Monday morning, but after Quigley's ruling on the other cases, Peters decided to accept the same sentence the others received.