Trainer Wells Pleads Guilty to Rigging Races
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Trainer David Wells pleaded guilty in a Pennsylvania court of common pleas Dec. 16 to rigging races by administering drugs to horses on race day at Penn National Race Course.
Under an agreement, the guilty plea is expected to result in dismissal of federal charges against the 50-year-old trainer.
Wells had faced federal charges when he and three others at Penn National were arrested in November 2013. Wells pleaded guilty in the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas before Judge Deborah Curcillo to a charge of rigging publicly exhibited contests, in this case Thoroughbred races.
In entering the plea, Wells admitted that he orally or by hypodermic injection illegally administered drugs to horses he trained and raced to give him and his horses an advantage in the races. He also admitted that he was fully aware that this was in violation of racing rules and regulations.
Wells also said that efforts were made to conceal this activity from the public and the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission. The criminal complaint alleged that the activity took place between 2008 and 2012.
Best known as the trainer of Special Eclipse Award winner Rapid Redux, Wells will face up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Judge Curcillo ordered the preparation of a presentence investigation report and set sentencing for Jan. 29.
In an Oct. 14 agreement, the U.S. Attorney said any federal charges would be dismissed following a guilty plea in Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas. Federal authorities showed interest in the case because horse racing conducts pari-mutuel wagering across state lines.
The prosecution stemmed from an investigation conducted by the FBI, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's Horse Racing Commission, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Dauphin County District Attorney's Office into alleged wrongdoing in races at Penn National.
Of the four people arrested following the investigation, only the case of assistant trainer Patricia Anne Rogers continues. She is set for a federal jury trial March 9, 2015.
Daniel Robertson, the former official clocker at Penn National, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud July 22. Robertson, who entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney, received one year of probation and was fined $1,250.
Trainer Samuel Webb had wire fraud charges against him dismissed June 5. U.S. District Court Judge William Caldwell of the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissed both counts of a federal indictment against Webb, saying the government's allegations failed to meet the definitions of the two charges.
One detail that appears to be an important one in the Webb case is that the horse he allegedly injected or intended to inject with an illegal substance, Papaleo, never started as he was scratched by the stewards before the planned May 2, 2013, start at Penn National. This would have made it impossible for Webb to bet on or against his horse, or for anyone else to wager on him.
In dismissing Webb's charges, the court agreed with Webb's argument that the government was attempting to "convert a misdemeanor under Pennsylvania law...into a federal crime."
The Wells investigation was transferred to the Dauphin County District Attorney's Office for prosecution of violations of state law. Assistant United States attorney William A. Behe was specially appointed by Dauphin County District Attorney Edward Marsico as a deputy district attorney to handle the Wells prosecution.