# IFBB Pro Jason Arntz gets five-year suspended sentence



## Curt James (Mar 20, 2010)

Shawn Ray posted this on MD's board. 

*South  Brunswick bodybuilder gets five-year suspended sentence for steroids  role*

*By Jim Lockwood/The Star-Ledger *

*March 19, 2010*







Morris County Prosecutor's Office

Jason Arntz,  arrested in 2007 in a steroids bust operation.

A South Brunswick  bodybuilder received a five-year suspended prison sentence today for  supplying a pill press to a steroid-manufacturing and distribution ring  in the Hanovers and Florham Park in Morris County in 2007.

Jason Arntz, 38, was among 16 people arrested in March 2007 after a  four-month probe centering on co-defendants Anthony Cuppari and his best  friend, Michael Dente, both bodybuilders of East Hanover. 

The scheme involved Dente manufacturing anabolic steroids in his  basement, authorities have said. Arntz pleaded guilty in January to  third-degree conspiracy to manufacture steroids, by supplying a pill  press to Dente knowing he would use the machine to make capsules of the  muscle-enhancing drug. 

Arntz faced up to five years in prison, but he and defense attorney  Robert Dunn asked for probation, saying Arntz has since ???turned his life  around,??? and is remarried and has a young child.

???I???d like to apologize to the court,??? Arntz said during his sentencing  in Superior Court in Morristown. ???I take responsibility for my actions. I  just hope I can move forward.??? But because Arntz had a prior drug  distribution conviction in Union County in 2001, as well as a prior  disorderly persons offense in 2002, Morris County Assistant Prosecutor  Vincent Leo sought a three-to-five-year prison term.

Judge Thomas Manahan rejected both requests, and decided to impose a  suspended sentence.

???Those two brushes with the law did not impede Mr. Arntz from assisting  someone he knew was manufacturing anabolic steroids,??? Manahan said. ???I  do not find probation is an appropriate sentence. Having said that, I  don???t find state prison ??? today ??? is an appropriate sentence. I???m going  to keep you under wraps in a different way,??? with a suspended sentence.

Arntz must stay out of trouble or he???ll be sent to prison, said the  judge, adding, ???It???s up to you how you comport yourself, but there won???t  be any other chances.???

Arntz was also sentenced to perform 150 hours of community service and  pay a $1,000 fine. Manahan urged Arntz to satisfy some of his community  service by speaking publicly in schools or to groups about the dangers  of steroids.

Cuppari, who *pleaded guilty in February* to distributing  steroids to a juvenile and distributing cocaine to an adult, was the  last of the group to have pleaded guilty, and now faces being sentenced  on April 9 to up to 10 years in prison.

Most of the others, including Dente and another key figure, Joseph  Costello, received probationary sentences.

Cuppari typically would face up to five years in prison and a $15,000  fine, but he faces double those penalties because the prosecutor's  office is seeking to have him sentenced under an "enhanced punishment"  statute for distributing drugs to a minor, authorities have said. 

Cuppari, a personal trainer who had been a volunteer assistant Hanover  Park high school football coach, was the only one of the group who  pleaded guilty to distributing steroids to a minor, and the only one to  face enhanced penalties.


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## Curt James (Mar 20, 2010)

> (snip)*South Brunswick bodybuilder gets five-year suspended sentence for steroids role*
> 
> *By Jim Lockwood/The Star-Ledger *
> (snip)
> ...



I absolutely hate these stories.

Glad to hear that Arntz received a suspended sentence, but where does he go now? Can he continue to compete under the watchful eye of the courts or a probation officer? 






Got to shake hands with the man at the Apollon Gym in November 2008. What he lacks in height he more than makes up for in shoulder width. 

Something should be done about this "steroid witch hunt". This is my soapbox, worthless as it may be as, hopefully, I'm preaching to the choir here:

The money the U.S. spends on interdiction and incarceration would be better spent on education and rehabilitation. Actually, the money would be much better spent on long-term studies to prove the harm or benefit of these demonized substances.

It's criminal, imo. This _witch hunt_ has done absolutely no good to the citizens of the United States. At best it's made liars and hypocrites of very good men and women. At worst, it's destroyed lives.

allouteffort, on the MD board, stated, "many do what he did...he just got caught"

Amen.

This is an absolute farce.


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