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Ex-Deputy Makes Plea To Steroid Charge

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 12, 2008

TAMPA - A former Pasco County detention deputy pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge that he possessed steroids with the intent to distribute.

Rodney Philon, 38, of Wesley Chapel was arrested in March as part of an investigation involving Deputy Don Riggans, who was accused of being part of a scheme to distribute hundreds of thousands of tablets of oxycodone.
Philon admitted giving steroids to a confidential source for the Drug Enforcement Administration on March 15 in Pasco County.
Philon almost backed out of entering the guilty plea. His public defender, David Secular, told U.S. Magistrate Thomas B. McCoun III that Philon was unhappy with his representation.

"He feels in a lot of ways that I have placed him under some pressure in terms of entering a plea," Secular said. He said Philon was concerned that Secular told him that if he didn't resolve the case by pleading guilty, he would be placed on the court's June trial calendar. "He has some apprehension as to whether I'm acting in his best interests."
McCoun told Philon that if he didn't plead guilty, the case would go to trial in the next week or two and that the calendar was not in Secular's control. "He's a very experienced federal defender, and he doesn't have anything to do with the schedule."

"Will this be the last opportunity I have to do this?" Philon asked.

"This is the appointed time," the judge said, noting that a scheduled plea hearing last week was postponed to allow him to attend to his wife, who had a medical appointment.

"Mr. Philon's never been in any kind of difficulty before," Secular said. "It's a very difficult and traumatic decision."
Philon said he would plead guilty, and when given the chance toward the end of the hearing to back out, he said, "Keep it going."

The maximum sentence Philon could receive is five years, although he is likely to receive less.

According to a criminal complaint affidavit, a DEA source met Philon through Kevin Massimino and participated in a weightlifting workout with Massimino and Philon.

Massimino, who also is charged in the oxycodone scheme, told the source that Philon had provided him steroids, and the source asked Philon about purchasing some, the complaint states.
Philon initially said he had just completed his own cycle of use and was taking a week off and would provide the drugs to the source when he resumed, the complaint states. The source asked about starting earlier, and Philon said he would try to get the steroids, the complaint states.

The source made arrangements to meet Philon at a Publix supermarket on State Road 54 in Pasco. There, Philon gave the source a plastic sandwich bag with 10 pink tablets of Dianabol, the complaint states, and Philon told the source how to use the anabolic steroid.

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