Two Sacramento police officers face steroid charges; one is accused of domestic violence
A Sacramento police officer faces an illegal steroid possession charge after authorities found alleged incriminating evidence during the investigation of another officer accused of committing domestic violence.
An arraignment hearing for Matthew W. Thompson, a three-year veteran with the Police Department, was held Thursday afternoon in Sacramento Superior Court. His case is scheduled to return to court Dec. 9 for further proceedings, according to court records.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office on Aug. 13 filed in court a criminal complaint against Thompson and co-defendant Justin David Shepard, alleging the police officers were found in possession of steroids on or about May 7.
The case was first reported by the Sacramento Update blog.
Thompson and Shepard are each charged with a misdemeanor count of unlawfully possessing a controlled substance, trenbolone acetate and testosterone enanthate, according to the criminal complaint. Shepard faces an additional misdemeanor count of illegal steroid possession, for a controlled substance called dromostanolone propionate.
Shepard was first arrested May 7, booked and later released from Sacramento County Main Jail on a $50,000 bail bond. Sacramento police investigators arrested him on suspicion of corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, domestic violence, false imprisonment, making criminal threats of death or great bodily injury and making a threat with a gun, according to jail records.
Along with the domestic violence allegations, the Police Department was investigating Shepard for alleged anabolic steroid use.
Prosecutors in June declined to file domestic violence charges against Shepard, saying there was “insufficient evidence to file charges and sustain a conviction on the guilt beyond a reasonable doubt standard,” according to a statement from the District Attorney’s Office at the time.
Shepard was arrested again after authorities learned he “was involved in another domestic violence incident” in San Francisco County, according to a news release from the District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors in Sacramento County then decided to file charges on Aug. 13 against Shepard based on “new criminal conduct and further investigation,” prosecutors said in the news release. On the same day, the District Attorney’s Office filed the unlawful steroid possession charges against Shepard and Thompson in a separate case.
The Police Department conducted a criminal investigation involving Thompson and forwarded the information to the District Attorney’s Office for prosecution, police spokeswoman Sgt. Sabrina Briggs said in an email to The Sacramento Bee.
Briggs said the Police Department also is conducting an administrative investigation involving Thompson, who was on administrative leave Friday. Shepard also remains on administrative leave as the investigations continue, she said.
Shepard has since been arraigned and is scheduled to return on Dec. 9 to Sacramento Superior Court for both of his cases.
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 2:01 PM.
