By: Pat Raia
A New York man is facing up to a year in jail and $200,000 in fines after pleading guilty to violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by selling misbranded drugs.
Misbranded drugs carry labels that are false or misleading The act prohibits the interstate sale of drugs that are adulterated or misbranded.
Court documents say Alain Lamontagne operated a New York-based business that sold supplements, tack, and intravenous drugs for horses. In March and in May 2017, he sold two bottles of intravenous horse drugs to an undercover USDA agent posing as a horse trainer in Maine. The bottles Lamontagne shipped to Maine bore fictitious labels listing that the substances had no active ingredients and were manufactured by a legitimate Canadian pharmacy, the documents said.
The documents say subsequent U.S. Food and Drug Administration testing revealed that the bottles contained the anabolic steroid stanozolol, which is used to promote red blood cell count, strengthen bones, stimulate appetite, and enhance muscle growth. It has also allegedly been used to dope racing horses.
On Nov. 1, Lamontagne pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to two counts of introducing into interstate commerce misbranded animal drugs. He faces up to one year in jail and a $100,000 fine for each count.
He was unavailable for comment.
