Fake Miami doc who sold steroids to A-Rod might get shorter sentence

Anthony Bosch, the fake doctor who peddled illegal muscle-building steroids to Major League Baseball stars including Alex Rodriguez, might see his four-year prison sentence sliced by one-third after snitching on a half-dozen associates convicted of collaborating with him in his illegal drug-distribution racket.

Federal prosecutors recommended that Bosch, 52, former owner of the anti-aging clinic Biogenesis of America in Coral Gables, be given a revised term of two years and eight months because of his “substantial assistance” in the investigation. It led to lengthy suspensions of the New York Yankees star and other professional ballplayers.

Federal prosecutors Sharad Motiani and Pat Sullivan said in a court filing this week that they reached an agreement with Bosch's defense attorneys, Guy Lewis and Susy Ribero-Ayala, on the proposed sentence reduction for Bosch. He had pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy-distribution charge in Miami federal court in October 2014.

Ultimately, the decision will be up to U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles, who imprisoned Bosch last February. If the judge goes along with the recommend lower sentence at a hearing to be scheduled, Bosch could be released from prison before the end of the year.

The reason: Bosch is undergoing drug treatment in prison for his heavy use of cocaine. By completing that course, he could see another year cut from his prison term. That would lower his total term to under two years.

At Bosch’s sentencing last February, Gayles called him the “mastermind” of a major drug-distribution network that caused the biggest doping scandal in MLB's history.

“Breach of trust — and that's what this case is about — is what troubles the court the most,” Gayles told Bosch.

Rodriguez, who was not charged in the high-profile case, served a full-season suspension before rejoining the Yankees as a designated hitter last year. The one-time Miami-Dade high school standout had repeatedly denied using performance-enchancing drugs. But the Miami Herald exposed his lie when it broke a story revealing that Rodriguez had confessed his use of banned MLB substances to federal agents behind closed doors in early 2014.

This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 10:40 AM with the headline "Fake Miami doc who sold steroids to A-Rod might get shorter sentence."