Rojas indicted on federal wire fraud, conspiracy charges

Murray Rojas, a trainer based in the mid-Atlantic, has been indicted on 11 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy by federal authorities for allegedly directing veterinarians to administer substances to horses on race day at Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Pa., according to officials with the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Rojas, who has won nine races from 81 starts this year, is facing the charges based on horses she started at Penn National in 2013, according to the district attorney’s office, which also alleged she directed unidentified substances to be administered on race day to horses that ran in 11 races at the track and that she back-dated veterinary records to conceal the administrations.

The district attorney’s office did not identify the substances, but it is illegal in Pennsylvania to administer any unnatural substance other than the regulated anti-bleeding medication furosemide on race day. As has been the case in other indictments of backside workers at Penn National over the past two years, the district attorney’s office said the charges rose to the level of federal violations because the horses started by Rojas performed in races that were simulcast across state lines.

Rojas, 49, had 47 wins from 401 starts in 2013, the year covered in the indictment. The indictment stated each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, but if Rojas is found guilty, the total sentence is unlikely to approach the maximum.

According to a database of rulings against trainers, Rojas was fined twice in Delaware last year for overages of the regulated corticosteroid dexamethasone.

Rojas was indicted four months after four veterinarians at Penn National accepted plea bargains in exchange for cooperating with investigators after being indicted on charges of administering foreign substances to horses on race day. The veterinarians were scheduled to be sentenced in late July, but those sentencing hearings were postponed early in the month, signaling that at least one indictment was on the way.

The plea agreements for the veterinarians identified a range of substances the veterinarians administered on race day, including the regulated painkillers phenylbutazone and flunixin; the regulated corticosteroid dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory; and a variety of compounded substances whose manufacturers make highly dubious claims about their efficacy. None of the substances identified in the plea agreements have powerful effects on a horse, but the use of painkillers on a horse on race day can be incredibly dangerous if the drug is masking an injury.

The Rojas indictment stems from a years-long probe into the backstretch at Penn National. Late in 2013, the Pennsylvania U.S. attorney’s office indicted three trainers on similar charges, most prominently David Wells, the trainer of the Special Eclipse Award winner Rapid Redux.

In December last year, Wells accepted a guilty plea on one count of rigging a publicly held race and received a three-month jail sentence in county court. The case against another indicted trainer was thrown out, while the other is continuing in local court under reduced charges. All had their licenses revoked.