Penn National clocker gets fine, probation

A clocker at Penn National Race Course who was indicted late last year by federal prosecutors for allegedly falsifying workout times was sentenced to one year’s probation and a $2,500 fine on Wednesday, according to court records.

Danny Robertson, who agreed this summer to plead guilty to one count of federal wire fraud, was accused by federal prosecutors last November of accepting payments from trainers and owners to record false workout times for horses. Because the workout times were published for horses in races that were simulcast nationwide, the prosecutors said the crime was a federal violation.

Robertson was one of four individuals based at Penn National who were arrested at the track after the release of the indictments. The other three were trainers who were accused of giving illegal drugs to horses.

Robertson faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine under the federal wire count charge.

U.S. prosecutors announced the arrests and indictments with great fanfare, calling the charges the culmination of a four-year investigation on Penn’s backstretch.

One of the trainers named in the indictment, Sam Webb, had his case thrown out earlier this year by the same judge that sentenced Robertson. Another trainer, David Wells, has reached a plea agreement in which three federal charges will be dropped in exchange for a guilty plea of a misdemeanor state charge. The other trainer, Patricia Anne Rogers, has had her case moved to a county court, with a trial date set for spring of next year.