Former powerlifting coach sentenced in steroids case

GONZALES, La. (AP) — A former Donaldsonville High School strength coach accused of supplying an unwitting student-athlete with anabolic steroids has agreed to a plea deal that kept him out of prison.

The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1CZV7va ) Curtis Tsuruda, 57, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of steroids after prosecutors dropped three other counts against him.

State Judge Katherine Tess Stromberg gave Tsuruda a five-year suspended prison sentence with five years' probation and a $2,500 fine during a March 27 hearing.

Laura Gerdes, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Attorney General's Office, said Thursday that prosecutors considered the other counts against Tsuruda redundant and dropped them.

The Ascension Parish District Attorney's Office had recused itself from Tsuruda's prosecution due to an undisclosed conflict.

Ascension Parish sheriff's deputies arrested Tsuruda on April 1, 2014, after he admitted he gave methandienone pills to a then 16-year-old student-athlete at Donaldsonville High.

Deputies have said Tsuruda told the student the methandienone pills were amino acid/protein pills. The youth's parents noted mood changes in their child after the student had taken the pills for about a week or two.

The parents sued Tsuruda and the Ascension Parish School Board on Jan. 20 and alleged Tsuruda "duped" the student into taking a regimen of steroids so the coach could regain his status in the coaching community. The suit is pending.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com

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