Stallone Pleads Guilty To Importing Growth Hormone Into Australia

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ Actor Sylvester Stallone pleaded guilty Tuesday to bringing vials of a restricted muscle-building hormone into Australia. <br/><br/>Lawyers for the 60-year-old star of the ``Rocky''

Monday, May 14th 2007, 9:23 pm

By: News On 6

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ Actor Sylvester Stallone pleaded guilty Tuesday to bringing vials of a restricted muscle-building hormone into Australia.

Lawyers for the 60-year-old star of the ``Rocky'' and ``Rambo'' movies entered the guilty plea on behalf of the actor, who did not appear before Sydney's Downing Center Local Court.

Stallone was accused of bringing a banned substance into Australia after a customs search of his luggage during a Feb. 16 visit to Sydney 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.

Stallone faces a maximum penalty of a $22,000 fine. Sentencing information was not released, and Stallone's lawyers made no immediately comment.

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 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.''