Police officer accused of selling growth hormone

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

A Honolulu police officer with more than 10 years on the force was charged yesterday by federal officials with a felony of illegally distributing a drug containing human-growth hormone.

Eddie B. Belluomini, 32, a bodybuilder, is accused of distributing the drug Serostim to a confidential informant from November to May this year on various occasions. On at least one, it is alleged, he was in uniform and got the drugs from his police car to give to the informant.

Belluomini was arrested Friday and is being held without bail pending a detention hearing today in federal court.

Honolulu police spokeswoman Michelle Yu said Belluomini was placed on leave with pay as of yesterday and has had all of his police powers removed pending the outcome of the case against him. Belluomini most recently was a patrol officer assigned to the downtown Honolulu and Chinatown areas. He never worked for the department's narcotics/vice division, Yu said.

Police Chief Lee Donohue was aware of Belluomini's arrest but had no plans to comment about it, Yu said.

Belluomini's lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Alexander Silvert, said the maximum penalty Belluomini faces is five years in prison. But unlike a conviction for distributing cocaine or methamphetamine, a mandatory minimum jail term is not required, Silvert said.

Belluomini, who was honored with a certificate of merit in 1998 for preventing a suicide, looked distraught and wiped tears from his eyes several times during his first appearance in court yesterday in the case.

Belluomini is charged with selling two boxes of the growth-hormone drug Serostim to an informant who was working with FBI officials.

Silvert said the drug can only be properly prescribed by physicians to treat people for the "wasting" conditions associated with AIDS or to treat infants for dwarfism.

"It also helps build muscle mass and is very commonly used in the bodybuilding industry although it is not supposed to be used for that purpose," Silvert said.

According to a statement filed by an FBI agent in court, a confidential informant told FBI officials on Sept. 11, 2002, that the informant had purchased steroids and Serostim from Belluomini.

On Nov. 13, the informant called Belluomini, who agreed to sell the informant two boxes of Serostim for $1,200, the statement said. Belluomini told the informant it would be easy to obtain the drug because he would be attending the Paradise Cup bodybuilding competition at the Sheraton Waikiki hotel, the document said.

Two days later, Belluomini was seen accepting money from the informant at Restaurant Row, according to the statement. Later that day, the informant was seen leaning into the passenger side of Belluomini's Jeep Cherokee, which was parked in front of Dole Signature Theaters on Iwilei Road, and was seen walking away with a plastic bag containing Serostim.

The next day, Belluomini delivered the second box of Serostim to the informant in front of the Dole Theaters, the statement said. But this time, Belluomini, dressed in his HPD uniform with a blue light fastened to the top of his vehicle, got out of the driver's seat, removed a manila envelope from the back of his Jeep and gave the second box to the informant, according to the document.

Similar deals involving Belluomini, both in and out of uniform, were observed and documented on April 3 and 15 and again on May 8 of this year, the statement said.

The FBI agent's statement does not say from whom Belluomini got the growth hormone.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Loretta Sheehan said Belluomini's arrest resulted from an ongoing investigation. She could not say if other arrests are likely or how soon the investigation will be finished.

Use of Serostim by bodybuilders is not an approved use of the drug, Sheehan said.

Belluomini received an HPD certificate of merit for preventing a man from jumping from the third floor of an apartment building.

The man, who had recently been evicted from his unit on Isenberg Street, was holding a pair of scissors and threatening to jump, police said. Belluomini walked up the outside stairs to the third floor and began talking to him, persuading him after about 25 minutes to put the scissors in his pocket and walk off the ledge.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.