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Sly Stallone pleads guilty
15/05/2007 12:10 - (SA)
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| Actor Sylvester Stallone pleaded guilty to bringing vials of a restricted muscle-building hormone into Australia. (AP)
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Meraiah Foley
Sydney - Aging Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone pleaded guilty on Tuesday to bringing vials of a restricted muscle-building hormone into Australia.
Lawyers for the 60-year-old star of the Rocky and Rambo movie franchises entered the guilty plea on behalf of the actor, who did not appear before Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday.
Stallone was charged with importing a banned substance into Australia after a customs search of his luggage at the start of a three-day visit to Sydney in February revealed 48 vials of the human growth hormone product, Jintropin.
Human growth hormone, a naturally occurring substance that can be replicated synthetically and is used to build muscle mass, is considered a performance enhancing drug in Australia and it cannot be imported without a permit from the national drug regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
The maximum penalty for bringing Jintropin into Australia illegally is a fine of A$110 000 and five years in prison, but Stallone faces a maximum penalty of just A$22 000 because the matter is being heard by a local, not federal, court.
'A minor misunderstanding'
Prosecution documents handed to the court in March said Stallone had marked "No" on a customs declaration card that asked if he was bringing into Australia restricted or prohibited goods "such as medicines, steroids, firearms, weapons, or any kind of illicit drugs."
During his three-day visit to Australia, Stallone shrugged off the airport incident.
"It was just a minor misunderstanding," Stallone told reporters. "They were just doing their jobs. I just didn't understand some of the rules here."
Stallone is expected to be sentenced later on Tuesday.
Prosecutor David Agius told Deputy Chief Magistrate Paul Cloran that Stallone was to have appeared in the court through a video link but that that plan had been abandoned. Agius did not elaborate.
Tight-lipped Stallone
Stallone came to Australia on February 16 to promote the latest movie in the Rocky series, Rocky Balboa - the most critically acclaimed since the original.
His hair appeared uncharacteristically long because he was preparing to reprise his role as renegade Vietnam war veteran John Rambo in another movie, media reported at the time.
His trouble with customs officials became immediately obvious when a media throng was kept waiting for hours outside Sydney International Airport for the actor and his entourage.
When a tight-lipped Stallone emerged, he signed his autograph for several fans but avoided media questions about the delay.
Three days after his arrival, customs officials searched Stallone's Sydney hotel room and private jet then allowed him to leave the country.
- AP
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