Former Penn National employee gets four months in prison

A former racing-office employee at Penn National in Grantville, Pa., has been sentenced to four months in federal prison for accepting money and gifts in exchange for information on the identity of horses entered in the track’s races, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Craig Lytel, 61, of Hershey, Pa., was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner, with the prison term set to begin March 23. Lytel was accused by federal authorities of accepting cash, dinners, gift cards, and golf outings in exchange for information on the races, which the attorney’s office characterized as “defrauding other horsemen and the betting public.”

Lytel had entered a guilty plea to the charges last September.

Federal authorities have been conducting an investigation at Penn National for several years. The investigation has yielded the indictments of five trainers, four veterinarians, and a clocker at the track. The investigation is ongoing, the attorney’s office said on Friday. The four veterinarians agreed to cooperate in the investigation in accepting reduced charges for guilty pleas last year.