Apologetic, Olympian Tim Montgomery sentenced to 5 years

NORFOLK

Once the world's fastest human, Tim Montgomery on Friday capped a tumultuous fall from superstar athlete to two-time convicted felon by receiving a five-year federal prison term after admitting to distributing heroin in Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

Montgomery, 33, will serve the five years in addition to a four-year prison term he received after pleading guilty in New York to participating in a $5 million counterfeit-check ring with his one-time Norfolk State University track coach Steve Riddick.

The South Carolina native apologized to his family and a federal judge for his behavior. But there was little he could say to get a reduced sentence. The heroin charge carried a mandatory five-year term.

While awaiting sentencing in the counterfeit-check case, Montgomery began peddling heroin in Norfolk and at the Virginia Beach nightclub Encore, where he had been a partner.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents recorded

video and audio of four heroin sales by Montgomery to an informant between August 2007 and April. His attorney, James Broccoletti, said the videos were crystal clear.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Friedman also ordered Montgomery to undergo drug treatment and mental health counseling.

Friedman noted not only Montgomery's deplorable criminal conduct, but also his "totally irresponsible" behavior in fathering four children with different mothers.

One of those children was with Marion Jones, his one-time girlfriend, who also was convicted in the check-kiting ring. Jones was released from prison on Sept. 5 after serving a six-month term for her relatively minor role in the check scam. Riddick, who coached both superstars, is serving five years.

Montgomery had no family in the courtroom Friday. His only supporter was longtime friend Barbara Robinson of Lynchburg, who said she has known him since he was a boy.

"I love you," she cried out as Montgomery was led away in handcuffs.

Afterward, Robinson said Montgomery used to call her "Mama."

"We all make mistakes. He just got hung up," she said before walking away.

Montgomery came out of relative obscurity, through the junior college ranks in the mid-1990s, to take the sport of track and field by storm. After transferring to NSU, he was coached by Riddick, a 1976 Olympic gold medal winner, first winning silver in the 1996 Olympics and then gold in 2000.

In 2002, Montgomery became the fastest human by breaking the world record in the 100 meters. With glory and endorsement deals resting at his feet, Montgomery's world began crumbling when he was linked two years later to the Balco steroids scandal.

Facing suspension from his sport, Montgomery retired but was stripped of his world record and medals achieved since the 2000 Olympics.

In court Friday, Friedman noted that Montgomery is the second "fastest human on Earth" he has sent away to prison.

In 1999, Friedman sentenced one-time world record sprinter Andre Cason, a graduate of Green Run High School in Virginia Beach, to six months in prison for passing a $100,000 counterfeit check. That case was unrelated to Montgomery's and Riddick's.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com