Former harness trainer Christopher Oakes was sentenced to three years in federal prison on March 3 after pleading guilty to one count of drug adulteration and misbranding in connection with the ongoing federal doping case. Oakes was accused of assisting fellow trainer Jorge Navarro in his doping program.
On Feb. 24, co-defendant and former trainer Marcos Zulueta was also sentenced to three years in prison for his role in the scheme, and harness trainer Rick Dane entered a guilty plea in the case on Feb. 18.
“These three defendants, Christopher Oakes, Marcos Zulueta, and Rick Dane, Jr., each undertook a duty to care for and protect the health and safety of the animals under their control. Each man flagrantly violated that duty in pursuit of purse money,” read a statement from U.S. Attorney Damian Williams on March 3. “Oakes's sentence today, like Zulueta's sentence, reflects the callousness of their crimes, and the gravity with which this Office takes the kind of abuse that each practiced.”
A pre-sentencing report from prosecutors was filed in Oakes' case with several more transcripts of wire tapped calls between Oakes and others, as well as co-defendants Navarro and Zulueta discussing Oakes. It's not clear which people or substances Navarro and Zulueta are talking about for much of these transcripts, but Navarro does refer to Oakes as something of a specialist at passing a nasogastric tube into a horse's stomach, which the defendants refer to as “drenching.” \
Nasogastric tubes are the means of delivery for baking soda and other components of what's called a “milkshake” – a mixture that's designed to combat the build-up of lactic acid in the body, artificially increasing endurance. Different practitioners of milkshaking may use different combinations of ingredients to achieve the desired effect, and Navarro and Zulueta spent some time comparing notes on what Oakes may have in his drench. Nasogastric tubes may also be used legitimately by veterinarians to deliver substances like electrolytes during a colic treatment, for example.
Prosecutors say Oakes “maintained a small pharmacy's worth of drugs at his barn in Pennsylvania,” including “misbranded and adulterated blood builders, growth factors, and pain shots.” They also say he provided Navarro with untestable medication and advised Navarro on drenching the ill-fated XY Jet.
Prosecutors also attached documents to their pre-sentencing report showing what they say is an attempt by Oakes to sidestep a prohibition by Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural on racing horses there. The documents make it appear that Oakes had ownership interest in some harness horses racing in New Jersey and generated fake invoices to someone referred to as “Chuck” to help Oakes get paid when necessary. Check information shows Oakes being paid by someone named Charles Pompay III.
Government filings portray Oakes as an uncaring doper who was willing to go to great lengths to conceal his activities, even though he was not as successful financially as Navarro.
“Oakes glibly claims that he never abused or intended to abuse an animal for money,” the prosecutors' report reads. “That is false. Oakes purchased small vials of injectable drugs from manufacturers like Seth Fishman without regard to the actual content or likely long-term effects of those drugs in the body of the horses under Oakes' control. He stored those drugs in his barn, injecting them for the purpose of committing fraud. And he did so over an extended period. Because there was no reason for this course of conduct other than to force his horses' bodies to conform to an unnatural level of performance in furtherance of a fraud, Oakes was, indeed, involved in the abuse of his animals for money.”
Oakes' counsel took issue with that characterization.
“We strongly dispute the inflammatory accusation that Mr. Oakes ever 'abused' horses or engaged in 'animal abuse in pursuit of money,'” read a reply from the defense. “There is no evidence to support such an accusation, and it is contradicted by the various letters written by veterinarians, horse owners, and others involved in the care of horses who support Mr. Oakes ahead of his sentencing. While Mr. Oakes did administer misbranded or adulterated PEDs to some of his horses, there is no evidence that he administered dangerous substances to any horses or caused any horses harm.”
Like other federal defendants, Oakes' pre-sentencing submission included a number of letters from character witnesses, including surgeon Dr. Patty Hogan, veterinarian Dr. Thomas Oliver, owner Bill Kenyon, owner Alan Johnston, owner Saverio Dalia, trainer Kevin Reynolds Jr., and US Harness Hall of Fame driver Ronald Pierce.
Oakes also disagreed with the government's assertion that he had given EPO or Epogen to some of his horses, saying that accusation came from a wiretapped phone call in which he had poor signal but was talking about two horses of his named Epillete and Epic Union. It is true that a number of the government's wire taps have included sections of transcript where a word is entered phonetically but doesn't make sense in context – trainers referring to joints and talking about knees and “knots” for example, when it's likely the conversation participants were talking about hocks.
Oakes had already agreed to pay $62,821 in forfeiture for the value of the drugs he obtained and gave to horses.
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