The NYPD has awarded a contract worth more than $700,000 to a New York horse veterinarian with a history of violations for writing an improper prescription, keeping bad records and being dishonest about his care of animals.
Camilo Bravo Sierra, once a horse racing veterinarian at Aqueduct Race Track, has more violations with the state Gaming Commission than all but one other veterinarian in the last 40 years, a spokesperson for the agency said. Public records obtained by Gothamist show Sierra admitted committing professional misconduct and violating racing rules in numerous ways dating back to 2004.
Now, Sierra, of Northport, Long Island, has been awarded the $734,400 contract to care for the NYPD mounted unit for the next five years, according to publicly filed records. According to the police department, the mounted unit is used to prevent crime and control crowds at protests, concerts, sporting events and parades in the city.
In a phone interview, Sierra defended his record and described the disciplinary actions as “a couple of hiccups.”
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I have an outstanding reputation on Long Island. I have a huge practice,” he said, adding that his reputation in the police department is also “outstanding.”
Sierra said that in October he became the veterinarian for all the horses in the NYPD’s mounted unit. The contract was not required to be put out to a competitive bid; however, the department was required to select a veterinarian from a vendor certified by the city.
In a statement, the NYPD said Sierra’s infractions from his time handling race horses are not relevant to his position with the department.
“The individual’s violations are related to infractions with handling procedures of medicine as related to racehorses and are not associated with the services being provided to the NYPD,” the statement said. “These technical violations do not have any bearing on the ability of the individual to carry out the veterinary responsibilities included in the work with our department.”
But animal advocates said he is dangerous for the horses and described the contract as a misuse of public funds.
“We call on the NYPD to revoke Sierra’s contract immediately,” Edita Birnkrant, executive director of animal rights group NYCLASS, told Gothamist in an email. “With his grim track record, he shouldn’t be allowed to be around animals at all, much less overseeing the mounted police horses at taxpayers’ expense.”
Sierra began his career as a veterinarian in 1992, according to state records. He has since been fined by the New York State Gaming Commission at least seven times and twice suspended from working with race horses. In 2020, the New York State Board of Regents ordered his veterinarian license suspended for two years, but that was put on hold and he was instead placed on probation, according to the documents.
Sierra is tied with one other person for most Gaming Commission violations amongst veterinarians since 1985, a spokesperson for the agency said.
Gothamist obtained records from the Gaming Commission that show in 2013 Sierra was fined for a “report” of steroid joint injection. It’s not clear from the documents whether the violation related to an unauthorized injection or incomplete paperwork. A commission spokesperson did not immediately respond to a question about the violation.
In 2016, records show, he was fined and suspended from working in thoroughbred horse racing for submitting health certificates for three horses he did not examine at Aqueduct Racetrack.
A year later, Sierra was fined and suspended again after gaming authorities found he prescribed the drug Albuterol to a horse he had not examined and used a fictitious horse name on the prescription. Albuterol can be used with a nebulizer to treat horses with breathing issues, and can also be injected to increase lean muscle mass, according to the American Quarter Horse Association.
Eight of Sierra’s alleged infractions are detailed in documents drawn up by the New York State Gaming Commission in preparation for a planned 2017 disciplinary hearing.
The infractions related to an allegation that he improperly gave the drug Albuterol to horse owner Raj Jagnanan, according to the documents.
The documents state that the Gaming Commission’s director of racing investigations, Terence M. Byrne, was tipped off by an anonymous source that Jagnanan was giving his horses an “unknown substance” at the racetrack.
On March 3, 2017, Byrne watched Jagnanan when he arrived at the track in his white, late model Mercedes Benz, the documents state. Byrne and another investigator then searched the Benz, and recovered a container of Albuterol prescribed by Sierra for a horse named “Casey,” the Gaming Commission documents state.
Both Jagnanan and Sierra were questioned by investigators from the Gaming Commission, the records state. They told investigators conflicting stories about where Sierra was when he gave Jagnanan the Albuterol and which horse it was meant for, according to the records.
An attorney for Sierra filed a response initially denying the eight allegations, but ultimately withdrew that and settled the case by stipulating that Sierra committed three of the charges against him, the records state.
Sierra was fined $4,500 and suspended from thoroughbred racing for 21 days for the infractions, according to a notice filed by a Gaming Commission state steward.
In an interview with Gothamist, Sierra provided a number of explanations for the misconduct described in the records. He said the prescription was mislabeled and that the investigation was racially motivated.
Jagnanan, the horse owner, also denied wrongdoing.
At the time, Jagnanan said he was “new to the racing game” and given the Albuterol to pass on to one of his trainers. He said he had no idea he was not supposed to have the medication — and said he may have been singled out because he was new to the track.
“It was definitely a setup,” Jagnanan said in a phone interview this week.
Jagnanan was fined $1,500 and suspended from thoroughbred racing for 30 days for the incident, according to the documents.
In 2016, Sierra was also suspended from thoroughbred racing for 20 days and fined $1,500 for submitting health certificates at Aqueduct for three horses — “New York Bourbon,” “Sky Ace,” and “To Much Malibu” – that he had not actually examined.
Sierra said he was never suspended from racing, but said he may have been given a “couple of days off” from the track.
“A lot of the vets get fines, get days off,” he said.
Separate from the penalties from the Gaming Commission, Sierra was also fined and disciplined by the New York State Board for Veterinary Medicine, according to the documents. Those fines are also rare. Fewer than 20 veterinarians out of about 5,500 licensed in the state have been penalized each year for the last three years, enforcement data show.
Sierra was charged with a single count of “professional misconduct” for failing to sign a medical form and list medication given to a horse in South Ozone Park, Queens – where Aqueduct is located – in October 2016.
In December 2019, Sierra agreed to a $1,500 fine and for his license to be suspended for two years, but for the suspension to be blocked — or stayed — if he completed two years of probation.
Sierra said his license was never suspended.
He said since he started working with the NYPD in October, he’s built a “great rapport” with officers in the department.
He said the fact that he was awarded the contract is evidence that his reputation as a veterinarian is solid.
“They wouldn’t be calling a crook,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
