FROM STAFF REPORTS

BIRMINGHAM – On Thursday, March 23, a Pelham man pleaded guilty in federal court to charges related to the distribution of anabolic steroids, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.

Michael Anthony Spano, 30, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Court Judge Karon O. Bowdre to one count of conspiracy to possess and distribute the anabolic steroids, testosterone propionate, trenbolone acetate, nandrolone decanoate, testosterone enanthate and stanozolol in Jefferson and Shelby counties between May 2013 and May 2016. He also pleaded guilty to one count of possessing with intent to distribute those steroids in Shelby County on May 13, 2016.

“The defendant in this case imported bulk quantities of steroid powder into the United States through the mail and then manufactured injectable and oral steroids at a clandestine lab in his basement in Pelham,” U.S. Postal Inspector in Charge Adrian Gonzalez said. “Postal inspectors will vigorously investigate crimes where the U.S. Mails are used to place the public at risk. This case is an example of how postal inspectors, working with our law enforcement partners, seek to protect the public from the criminal misuse of the U.S. Mail.”

Spano is scheduled for sentencing July 27. The maximum penalty for both distribution charges is 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

U.S. Postal Inspectors and the ALEA State Bureau of Investigation investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Felton is prosecuting.