A former Allegheny County detective accused of injecting his teenage son with a steroid in 2019 to boost his football performance intimidated the youth into lying to prosecutors about the case, the son testified Tuesday.

Raymond W. Bonacci, 59, of Murrysville, was held for trial in Westmoreland County Court on two felony counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. Bonacci will also be tried on six felony counts related to witness intimidation, retaliation against a witness, obstruction of justice and witness intimidation leading to false testimony.

Anthony Bonacci, now 23 and a Pennsylvania State Police trooper, told Murrysville District Judge Judith Petrush that his father instructed him in 2023 to lie about where the injections took place. Anthony Bonacci subsequently told police, his attorney and a Westmoreland County assistant district attorney that he received the steroid shots in Elizabeth Township, instead of at the family’s Murrysville home.

The punishment if he did not lie, Anthony Bonacci testified, could have been physical or emotional.

“I felt I would be cut off from my family and never be able to talk to my mother,” Anthony Bonacci said. In affidavit against Raymond Bonacci, Anthony Bonacci also stated that he had been assaulted by his father numerous times.

Anthony Bonacci testified Tuesday that his father would inject him with a dose of what he was told was testosterone at their home before each of Franklin Regional’s 2019 football games. He said he had no proof the drug in the syringe was testosterone and said the drug had no impact on his performance.

He also said he received an Adderall pill, which contains amphetamine, from his father that he was to take in the locker room before a game. Amphetamine is a prescription drug used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

“I did not use it (Adderall) voluntarily,” Anthony Bonacci said. Although his father was not in the locker room, the son said he felt his father would somehow find out if he did not take the drug.

Trooper Jason Kinger, who investigated the case against Raymond Bonacci, testified he was alerted to the drug use when he was notified of inconsistencies in Anthony Bonacci’s answers on a polygraph test for entry into the state police academy.

Kinger said that in an interview with the elder Bonacci in June 2023 to discuss Anthony Bonacci’s application to the state police academy, Kinger raised the issue of the son’s admitted involuntary drug use.

“His (Raymond Bonacci’s) response was, ‘I did it. I did that,’” Kinger testified.

Kinger said his supervisors ordered him to conduct a criminal investigation, which revealed the elder Bonacci had prescriptions for both testosterone and Adderall.

Raymond Bonacci remains free on $150,000 unsecured bond.

Following the hearing, defense attorney Michael Deriso questioned the Anthony Bonacci’s credibility, noting his admission to lying to police, prosecutors and his own attorney about the location of the injections.

“So you have a (state police) cadet who’s already lied to multiple people, and he lied to law enforcement and that’s who everyone chooses to believe. I find it incredible. I find it insulting to our justice system,” Deriso said.

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