Drugs rampant in track & field, case shows

LAREDO, Texas, April 13 (UPI) -- A therapist's testimony at an upcoming doping trial will highlight the rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs in U.S. track and field, lawyers say.

Angel Heredia, the chief witness in the case of Trevor Graham, the coach for Marion Jones and others who faces three counts of perjury in a federal investigation of doping in sports. Graham's trial is to start next month.

Heredia, a Mexican citizen, is a sports nutritionist who holds an undergraduate degree in kinesiology from Texas A&M.

Heredia, who claims Jones and Olympic sprinter Maurice Greene among his clients, says he helped various athletes skirt sanctions on performance-enhancing drugs by supplying them with creams containing drugs not detected in conventional tests, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The defense team for Graham says Heredia is a tainted witness and, as the supplier, should face prosecution, not Graham.

Heredia's counsel said his client was not offered immunity by the prosecution, though they did agree to help Heredia with his American visa.