Kenneth Hebert and his common-law wife Leticia Zamora, owners of TexStar Labs and Phalco Labs, faced United States District Judge David Hittner for sentencing on January 28, 2009. Hebert was senteced to four years imprisonment (or double the term of imprisonment advocated by prosecutors) whereas Zamora withdrew her guilty plea after Judge Hittner denied her probation deal with the government (”Pearland man gets prison for at-home steroid factory,” January 28).
A Pearland man who ran a major anabolic steroid factory in his house was sentenced to four years in federal prison on Wednesday, but his wife withdrew her guilty plea and opted to go to trial.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner sentenced Kenneth Hebert to about twice what prosecutor Peter Mason had suggested for distributing the performance-enhancing drug, made of ingredients from China.
Hebert and Zamora both pleaded guilty to their respective roles in the illegal operation of a large-scale underground anabolic steroid laboratory out of their Houston-area home. The couple manufactured raw steroid powder into oral and injectable steroid products that were distributed under the TexStar Labs and Phalco Labs label. The steroid case represented one of the largest UGL steroid busts resulting from Operation Raw Deal.
The couple decided to spend their available funds to hire an attorney from the Montalvo Law Firm to represent Leticia Zamora and provide her with the best opportunity to avoid prison time so that she could raise the couple’s two young children, ages five and seven; Kenneth Hebert was represented by a federal public defender.
President Barrack Obama may think the federal investigations into anabolic steroids should not be a top priority for the government, but the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) strongly disagrees. The DEA emphasized that steroids are “extremely dangerous” and respresent a significant threat to public health during a recent press briefing involving the sentencing of Operation Raw Deal defendants (”Pearland couple to be sentenced for operating major steroid pill mill,” January 27).
“It’s not just a drug that can be taken lightly,” explained DEA Special Agent Violet Szeleczky. “It’s something that we still consider extremely dangerous to the public and we’re going to investigate it to its fullest, just as if it were heroin, cocaine or marijuana.”
DEA Special Agent Violet Szeleczky promised to treat anabolic steroid cases no differently than cocaine or heroin cases when it comes to allocating agency investigative resources. Agent Szeleczky made these comments in relation to the sentencing of one of the largest underground labs (UGLs) busted during Operation Raw Deal.
