PHOTO: SPLASH NEWS
In addition to returning all 5 of the medals she won in the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Marion Jones was sentenced to 6 months in prison for lying to federal investigators about her steroid use and check-fraud scheme, according to a report published by People last week.
“I absolutely realize the gravity of the offenses I’ve committed. I want to apologize,” Jones told the court as she began to cry, according to ABC News. “I plead with you,” she said, to not separate “me from my boys even for a short while.”
Her lawyers asked for leniency, according to the Associated Press, but U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, N.Y., sentenced the 31-year-old to the prison term as well as two years of supervised release, during which she will be required to perform 800 hours of community service. In sentencing, the judge said he gave her the maximum under her plea deal to send a message to athletes who have abused drugs and overlooked the values of “hard work, dedication, teamwork and sportsmanship.”
Jones, who used steroids distributed by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative – the same lab that supplied steroids to New York Yankees star Jason Giambi and San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds – is the first professional sports figure to get prison time. Jones is also now said to be in financial ruin.
The 6-month prison sentence seem a bit harsh, don’t you think?
