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Miguel Tejada - Source: Reuters -
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Five-time All-Star Miguel Tejada is expected to plead guilty on
Thursday to lying to Congress about his knowledge of other baseball
players using steroids, a legal source and court documents revealed
on Wednesday.
Tejada, 34, the American League's Most Valuable Player in 2002
while with the Oakland Athletics, was charged on Wednesday with
making the misrepresentations to congressional staff members in
2005 when he said he never knew of any other player using
steroids.
Federal prosecutors charged Tejada in a six-page court document
known as a "criminal information," which typically is used when a
defendant has agreed to plead guilty.
A plea hearing for Tejada, a shortstop who also played for the
Baltimore Orioles and now is with the Houston Astros, is scheduled
for Thursday, and he is expected to plead guilty to the criminal
charge, which is a less-serious misdemeanor, a legal source
familiar with the case said.
The case involving Tejada was filed the day after Alex Rodriguez,
the New York Yankees star who is the game's highest paid player,
admitted using performance-enhancing drugs.
After Sports Illustrated reported on Sunday that he tested positive
for testosterone and the anabolic steroid Primobolan in 2003,
Rodriguez admitted to ESPN television on Tuesday that he took a
banned substance from 2001 to 2003, saying he felt pressure to
perform upon signing a record 10-year, $US250 million contract with
the Texas Rangers.
In another case, home-run king Barry Bonds faces charges in San
Francisco that he lied to a federal grand jury about taking
steroids, while pitching great Roger Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young
award winner, is under investigation in Washington, D.C., on
whether he lied to Congress when he denied using steroids.
House committee
According to the court documents, Tejada, who is from the Dominican
Republic, told staffers from the House of Representatives Committee
on Oversight and Government Reform in 2005 that he never used
illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
Prosecutors did not accuse Tejada of lying about allegations
concerning his own steroids use.
Instead, they said Tejada lied about conversations he had during
spring training in 2003 with an unidentified teammate from the
Oakland Athletics who told Tejada he used steroids and human growth
hormone.
A committee staff member asked Tejada, "You never knew of any other
player using steroids?" Tejada answered, "No" and later added, "I
didn't know any player."
Prosecutors said Tejada gave the teammate two checks, totaling
$A6,300, for substances believed to be human growth hormone. The
player did not know whether Tejada actually used the
substances.
Tejada faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison, but under
federal guidelines he could get just probation when
sentenced.
A year ago, the House committee asked the Justice Department to
investigate whether Tejada had lied.
Tejada's statement to committee staffers appeared to be
contradicted by a report late last year by George Mitchell, the
former Senate majority leader, in which Mitchell named more than 80
current and former players as suspected users of steroids and other
illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
