Harness trainer Oakes, who allegedly sold misbranded medications to Navarro, will change plea

Chris Oakes, one of the more than two dozen people connected to horse racing who were indicted last year on drug charges, has become the latest individual in the case to enter a change-of-plea request.

In court filings on Tuesday, Oakes, a harness trainer, was ordered to appear before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Oct. 20 for the change-of-plea hearing. Oakes had earlier entered a not-guilty plea to two charges related to misbranding and adulterating drugs.

Oakes will become the ninth of the 27 indicted individuals to change his plea. Most prominently, prosecutors alleged that he sold and distributed misbranded or adulterated medications to Jorge Navarro, the Thoroughbred trainer who has also entered a guilty plea and will be sentenced in December. Prosecutors also say that he directly manufactured a substance given illegally to horses.

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Oakes was one of a number of individuals in the case who filed a motion to suppress evidence collected on wiretaps in the case, arguing that the authorizations to obtain the wiretaps were misleading. The judge in the case, Mary Kay Vyskocil, has not yet ruled on the motions, but she said recently that she intended to do so shortly after the deadline for responses expired at the end of September.