Athlete Sentenced for Steroid Possession

A Brazilian bodybuilder who won the 1987 Mr. Universe title was sentenced Monday to five years probation for possession of a cache of muscle-enhancing steroids that were smuggled from Brazil to Woodland Hills.

Luis Batista Freitas, 33, told U.S. District Judge James Ideman that he had no interest in using anabolic steroids again because he blames the drug for muscle damage to his shoulders.

The suntanned Freitas also told Ideman: “I do not want to participate in any competition . . . where I can’t prove that I’m a drug-free competitor.”

Freitas won the Mr. Universe title in 1987. The year before, he was disqualified from the competition for using steroids that showed up in drug tests, he said.

In addition to probation, Freitas was ordered to complete a community service requirement by teaching high school athletes about the dangers of steroids.

Freitas, of Marina del Rey, pleaded guilty to possession of a March, 1989, shipment of 11,000 steroid tablets shipped from Brazil to his mother’s Woodland Hills home.

U.S. Customs officials took Freitas into custody in Ohio at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic contest.