Former IFBB Mr Australia convicted for steroid trafficking.

Angelo Galati enjoyed a squeaky clean image as one of Australia’s premier power athletes.

A well-known Bentleigh East resident, working as a hairdresser and personal trainer, he received accolades in 2008 after being crowned Mr Australia at an International Federation of Bodybuilding competition for the fifth time.

Known in powerlifting circles as “Mr Bench” after breaking several bench-pressing world records, at the age of 40 he was lifting more than men half his age.

He also regularly visited Hobart’s Risdon Prison to run competitions and seminars for the inmates.

But it all came crashing down when police raided his North Rd home in Bentleigh East and found a staggering cache of steroids and money derived from their sale, a month before he won his national title.

Almost 6500 anabolic steroid tablets, 16 vials of liquid and $16,835 in cash were seized during the sting on September 9, 2008.

Galati was on Friday convicted and sentenced at the Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court to a 12-month intensive corrections order after pleading guilty to trafficking anabolic steroids, possessing a drug of dependance and receiving and possessing the proceeds of crime.

The court heard the drugs were found stashed in several bedrooms along with 25g of cannabis, while more steroids and money were found hidden in the kitchen.

“A further search located a metal tin which contained $16,335 in cash and various papers listing amounts sold and received,” prosecutor Stephen McGinness said.

Another $500 was found in the kitchen, Leading Sen-Constable McGinness said.