Baseball Drug Dealer Sentenced

PITTSBURGH — 

A federal judge today sentenced former Philadelphia Phillies caterer Curtis Strong to 12 years in prison for his conviction on 11 counts of distributing cocaine to major-league baseball players.

Judge Gustave Diamond also sentenced the 39-year-old defendant to 12 years of special parole to be served after the jail time. The judge said he wanted to be sure that Strong would be too old to engage in the drug business after leaving federal supervision. During Strong’s trial, seven major-league baseball players testified against him under a grant of immunity from prosecution.