551-Pound Man Won’t Escape House Arrest

Steven Goodman’s attorney says he can’t leave his Treasure Island home due to health concerns, but that didn’t stop the morbidly obese man from asking a federal judge to take him off house arrest anyway.

Goodman, 70, weighs in at 551 pounds, according to the Tampa Bay Times. He was sentenced in 2012 to four years’ probation and 30 months house arrest for his part in a South Florida pill mill. The former pharmacist was convicted of providing more than 1 million pain pills, including oxycodone, to illegally run pain management clinics, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

Back in 2012, the judge in Goodman’s case opted against a prison sentence because of the then 525-pound man’s failing health, the Times reported. Earlier this month, Goodman’s attorney filed a motion that would have ended his home confinement some seven months early.

Edward Page, Goodman’s attorney, wrote in his motion that “home confinement with electronic monitoring is both unnecessary and futile because his physical and medical condition effectively confines him to his home,” WPTV.com reported.

While Goodman’s lawyer argued he wanted to get his affairs in order, Judge Kenneth A. Marra saw no need to reduce the sentence.

“[He] was spared a prison sentence, not as a favor to him, but in order to spare the Bureau of Prisons the burden of having to care for him for the period of time he should have been incarcerated,” the Times quoted Marra as saying.

Goodman’s doctor has given him six to 12 months to live, due to a heart condition and other illnesses, WPTV.com reported.

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