Matt McDonald could be behind bars for a while if federal prosecutors get their way.

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U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin is currently considering a request by prosecutors that the former Big Brother ninth-season houseguest be held without bail pending his trial on a federal drug charge, The Associated Press reported Monday.

Sorokin did not immediately issue a ruling, according to The AP, which added McDonald's attorney said his client strongly denies the charge.

McDonald was indicted last Tuesday on a charge of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone as part of a drug ring allegedly run by Big Brother ninth-season winner Adam Jasinski.

While authorities failed to identify Jasinski as the "unidentified Florida man" from which McDonald received the oxycodone in court on Monday, The AP reported his attorney believes it was Jasinski.

McDonald -- a Charlestown, MA resident -- was allegedly involved in the drug ring from April 2008 to October 2009, according to the indictment.  He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine if he is convicted.
 
Jasinski was arrested in October after flying to Boston and attempting to sell drugs to a Drug Enforcement Administration witness.

According to an affidavit filed by a DEA Special Agent, the witness -- reportedly a local drug dealer who had been arrested earlier in October -- met Jasinski at Logan International Airport and then drove to a North Reading, MA strip mall where DEA agents arrested Jasinski after he pulled the pills from a sock stuffed in his pants.

The witness set up the drug buy via an October 8 phone call to Jasinski, according to the affidavit, which added Jasinski stated he had used his $500,000 Big Brother cash prize to bankroll his drug dealing and boasted that he had been "obtaining thousands of pills of oxycodone" which he had been selling "to customers all along the East Coast."

Jasinski was charged with possession of oxycodone pills with intent to distribute and is currently awaiting trial.

McDonald was also arrested April 18 and charged with assault and battery after he allegedly attacked his pregnant fiancee. He was arrested again two days later and charged with witness intimidation after allegedly harassing the unidentified woman and her family.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio

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