Dr. Erica Garcia was sentenced to 10 months in prison by a federal court on December 12 for her role in the Jorge Navarro horse doping scandal.
The sentence follows a plea agreement in August admitting two misdemeanors of engaging in interstate trafficking of adulterated and misbranded drugs and administering them to Navarro-trained racehorses. training. An agreed-upon money sentence of $18,276.68 was imposed along with one year of supervised release. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil presided.
Navarro is serving a five-year sentence after pleading guilty in the same New York courtroom a year ago.
Garcia requested probation for what attorneys Deborah Colson and Aaron Mysliwiec described as a “relatively limited role in the conspiracy”. They indicated that Garcia had no criminal record; her remorse for the wrongdoing; two years of revision; established a rebuilding career in small animal practice in Florida; and is “the primary caregiver and sole provider of her eleven-year-old daughter.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Mortazavi asked for consistency with federal guidelines, in this case 24 months in custody. According to the filing, her crimes “involved Garcia’s participation in a multi-year scheme to provide unnecessary and potentially dangerous drugs” to Navarro.
Mortazavi writes: “At the time Garcia agreed to take these drugs — and in the course of the offense — Garcia believed the drugs were performance-enhancing and was ignorant of the main ingredient. bodies as well as how they are manufactured.
