Category: NORTH JERSEY

Joseph Brodie, 40, of Millville Sentenced For Threatening To Murder A Congressman & His Staff

CAMDEN CITY N.J. – A New Jersey resident was sentenced yesterday to 87 months in prison for threatening to murder former U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo and members of the congressman’s staff, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Joseph Brodie, 40, of Millville, New Jersey, was previously convicted in Camden federal court on two counts of making threats to officials, officers and employees of the United States – specifically, for a telephone threat to murder LoBiondo’s chief of staff and an email threat to murder LoBiondo, his chief of staff, his veterans affairs liaison, and all of the other staff of the Mays Landing office. During the sentencing hearing yesterday, the Court determined that over the course of the prosecution, Brodie had obstructed justice and that there also was evidence to show he had intended to carry out his threats.

According to documents filed in this case and the evidence presented at trial:

In the spring of 2017, Brodie reached out to LoBiondo seeking assistance with the medical care and treatment that Brodie was receiving from the Veterans Administration. Over the course of the next few months, Brodie spoke and corresponded with the congressman’s Veterans Affairs Liaison and a caseworker, both of whom assisted him with appointments and meetings regarding his medical care. On Sept. 19, 2017, Brodie contacted the congressman’s office and spoke to the chief of staff on the phone. Brodie wanted the chief of staff to arrange a meeting with the congressman, but the chief of staff refused. During this phone call, Brodie became angry and ultimately threatened the life of the chief of staff – calling him “a dead man.”

Approximately an hour and a half later, Brodie sent an email to the congressman’s veterans’ affairs liaison as well as the caseworker, threatening their lives as well as the lives of the congressman and his staff in the Mays Landing Office. In this email, Brodie stated that he wanted to meet the congressman “face to face” and he pointed out “how easy” it was to find the congressman’s Mays Landing Office. Brodie also attached a terrain map of the area, with the area around the congressman’s office enlarged for detail and a red pinpoint location marker on the office. Writing about the map, Brodie stated, “[i]t even shows the environment and surrounding terrain, parking lots, wooded areas, etc., (like the kind a highly trained Combat Infantryman would use)…”

On the same day as the threats, Brodie sent text messages to his fiancée stating: “I threaten the life of a Congressman’s Chief of Staff. I’m pretty sure the Secret Service are going to investigate.” He also wrote that he was “prepared” for any law enforcement officers who might respond to his home. He wrote, “I’ll give them a chance to leave. If not, it’ll be First Blood Part II Type Shit (if you never saw that Rambo movie).” Brodie also wrote, “I won’t surrender. It’s not in me.” The same day, Brodie spoke to his fiancée on the phone and told her that he was going to travel to an address in New Jersey, that he had GPS coordinates in his car, that he was going to kill LoBiondo’s chief of staff, and that there was going to be a “blood bath.”

One week later, in a statement recorded by the FBI, Brodie confessed to having made the phone threat to the chief of staff on Sept. 19, 2017, and to having sent the email threat on Sept. 19, 2017.

The evidence showed that at the time Brodie made these threats, Brodie owned several firearms and a large amount of ammunition at his home.

U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie in Newark; special agents of the U.S. Capitol Police, under the direction of Chief Steven Sund; officers from the N.J. State Police, under the direction of Col. Patrick J. Callahan; and the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae, with the investigation leading to yesterday’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sara A. Aliabadi and Jason Richardson, of the Camden office.

Defense counsel: Gina Amoriello, Esquire, Westmont, NJ and Philadelphia, PA

Pick-6 Rolls to $5 Million for Dec. 26 Drawing

TRENTON (Dec. 24, 2019) – The Pick-6 drawing on December 23 produced seven winners of $3,790 for matching five out of six white balls drawn. One of those tickets was purchased with XTRA, multiplying the prize to $7,580. The $5 million drawing will be held Thursday, December 26, 2019.

The winning numbers for the Monday, December 23, drawing were: 04, 11, 13, 25, 42 and 49. The XTRA Multiplier was: 02. By adding XTRA for an additional $1.00 per play, winners are able to multiply their non-jackpot prizes by the XTRA number drawn.

Acting Executive Director James Carey announced that there were 530,737 tickets purchased for the drawing and of those sold, thousands were prizewinners! For correctly matching four numbers, 437 ticketholders won $53 each and 107 others won $106 each with the addition of XTRA. Moreover, for correctly matching three numbers 8,573 ticketholders won $3.00 each and 1,279 others won $6 each with the addition of XTRA. Lastly 9,587 ticketholders each won $2.00 for correctly matching two numbers with the addition of XTRA on their purchase.

Newark Man Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Firearms Offense

Related To Shooting Of 5-Year-Old Girl

NEWARK, N.J. – A Newark man was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for being convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Jamar Battle, 31, was previously convicted after a three-day trial before U.S. District Judge

William J. Martini on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. The jury deliberated two hours before delivering the guilty verdict. Judge Martini imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:

On the evening of July 4, 2018, Battle was involved in an argument with his girlfriend and was waiting for her outside of her home. After she arrived near her home, Battle fired six shots at the car she had been riding in as it pulled away. He did not hit his intended target, but did hit a 5-year old girl who had been walking with her father after watching a neighborhood fireworks display. The child survived the shooting but suffered a major injury that required immediate medical attention.

Prior to this shooting, Battle had been convicted of six felonies. In 2015, Battle was sentenced to New Jersey State Prison on two firearms offenses and had just been released from prison in May 2018.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Martini sentenced Battle to three years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited law enforcement officers of the Newark Police Department, under the direction of Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose; special agents of the Department of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Charlie J. Patterson in Newark; special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie in Newark; and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens 2nd, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government was represented by Senior Trial Counsel Robert Frazer and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Naazneen Khan of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Violent Crimes Unit in Newark.

Defense counsel: Michael P. Koribanics Esq., Clifton, New Jersey

AG Grewal Sues Companies for Selling Large Capacity Ammunition Magazines into NJ

Some Refused To Turn Over Evidence of Prior Sales

Elite Aluminum Complaint

22MODSFORALL Complaint

TRENTON

– Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal today filed suit against two separate out-of-state companies which previously sold illegal large capacity magazines (LCMs) to undercover state investigators in New Jersey, and which have failed to comply with state subpoenas demanding the records of their New Jersey sales.

New Jersey law prohibits the possession and sale of firearm magazines that are capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition. LCMs allow a shooter to fire an unusually high number of bullets at a time, without requiring the shooter to even pause and reload. As a result, violence that involves LCMs can result in more shots fired, persons wounded, and wounds per victim than other gun attacks.

Although both Elite Aluminum of Holly Hill, Fla., and 22Mods4All of Longwood, Fla., appear to have discontinued sales of LCMs into New Jersey after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Attorney General Grewal, both companies have refused to turn over documents showing their prior sales into the state, despite receiving a subpoena.

This investigation predates, and is unrelated to, the attack in Jersey City last week.

“Large capacity magazines are illegal in New Jersey, which is why I’m continuing to file suits against LCM companies that sell their products to our consumers,” said Attorney General Grewal. “The companies we’re going after today have repeatedly stonewalled and withheld evidence from investigators, despite a subpoena. These lawsuits serve as yet another warning to the industry: hide the extent of your unlawful sales from our investigators, and we will see you in court.”

“New Jersey banned the possession and sale of LCMs because of their devastatingly lethal capacity, and because of the role such products have played in tragedy after tragedy around the country,” said Division of Consumer Affairs Acting Director Paul R. Rodríguez. “Not only do we allege that these companies put New Jersey residents at risk by selling dangerous, illegal weapons into the state, exposing purchasers to criminal liability, they have now failed to comply with our investigation. These two sellers have had ample warning and time to cooperate. Their time has run out, and we’re taking them to court.”

Filed in Superior Court in Essex County, the State’s lawsuits against Elite Aluminum and 22Mods4All each include two counts. The first count addresses alleged violations of the Consumer Fraud Act that occurred when the companies offered and sold LCMs to New Jersey buyers despite the fact that possessing an LCM is a fourth-degree crime in New Jersey punishable by up to 18 months in prison and fines of up to $10,000. The second count centers on the failure of both sellers to comply with a subpoena for records documenting their sales activities in New Jersey dating back five years.

The sales information was first requested in cease-and-desist letters sent to both vendors by Attorney General Grewal on January 7, 2019.

The Elite Aluminum cease-and-desist letter came in the wake of the company’s sale and delivery of eight 30-round LCMs to an undercover Division of Criminal Justice (DCJ) detective through three separate transactions in 2018.

The 22Mods4All cease-and-desist letter came in the wake of the company’s sale and delivery of nine 30-round LCMs to an undercover DCJ detective in two separate transactions, also in 2018.

Attorney General Grewal’s letters called on Elite Aluminum and 22Mods4All to stop advertising, selling and/or shipping LCMs to New Jersey. Both appear to be complying with that portion of the letter, as revealed by subsequent undercover efforts to purchase LCMs from both vendors in 2019.

However, the cease-and-desist letters to Elite Aluminum and 22Mods4All also called on each to provide details of past sales of LCMs to any New Jersey address since January 1, 2014, which would allow the State to identify the extent of the companies’ LCM sales and alleged legal violations.

After neither company complied with the demand for information in Attorney General Grewal’s cease-and-desist letters, the Division issued a subpoena to 22Mods4All in July 2019, and to Elite Aluminum in August 2019.

Neither company has complied with the subpoena. 22Mods4All did not respond at all, while Elite Aluminum failed to supply the demanded documents.

Today’s lawsuit is not the first action by Attorney General Grewal to protect New Jersey residents from illegal firearm products and gun violence filed this year. Among other things, in June, Attorney General Grewal filed suit against a Nevada company – New Frontier Armory – after it ignored a cease-and-desist letter and allegedly sold six LCMs to an undercover state investigator, including a 100-round magazine, a 30-round magazine and a 15-round magazine.

And earlier this year – on March 22 – Attorney General Grewal filed suit against James Tromblee, Jr., owner of the California-based “ghost gun” company U.S. Patriot Armory. The lawsuit alleged that U.S. Patriot Armory violated the State’s Consumer Fraud Act by continuing to advertise, market, and offer for sale ghost guns to New Jersey residents. (Ghost guns are partially-assembled firearms sold with the parts needed to create a fully-operational gun – and often even with the instructions on how to do so.) That same month, Attorney General Grewal announced criminal charges against individuals trafficking ghost guns into the state.

The World Lottery Association Recertifies New Jersey Lottery

for Level 4 Responsible Gaming Certification

TRENTON (Dec. 20, 2019) – In 2016, the New Jersey Lottery was only the third state lottery in the nation to be awarded a World Lottery Association Responsible Gaming Level Four Certification, the highest level of international recognition in the

gaming industry. The Lottery has been recertified by the World Lottery Association in 2019 for continued efforts to incorporate responsible gaming best practices into its every day operations.

The World Lottery Association Responsible Gaming Principles and Framework Certification Program outlines lotteries\’ level of commitment to corporate social responsibility and responsible gaming. New Jersey Lottery received the recertification of its Level 4 distinction for its commitment to continued review and ongoing development of extensive responsible gaming efforts.

“I am proud of New Jersey Lottery’s efforts to incorporate responsible gaming messages into all areas of communication and our work toward continued enhancements of the Responsible Play Program,” said New Jersey Lottery Acting Executive Director James A. Carey, Jr. “We are pleased that the extensive review by the World Lottery Association of our responsible gaming initiatives and continued commitment has earned the New Jersey Lottery recertification of the prestigious Level 4 Responsible Gaming Certification.”

(VIDEO) Be on the Lookout for the Spotted Lanternfly

TRENTON, NJ (December 2019)–The State of New Jersey is warning the public once again about the dangerously invasive spotted lanternfly. It has been found  in Camden, Cape May, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Mercer, Burlington, Salem, Somerset and Warren counties. State officials say that Cape May and Gloucester counties are among the newest additions to the list.

Spotted Lanternfly Background

• Detected on September 22, 2014 in Berks County Pennsylvania

• Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) is a plant hopper, Lycorma delicatula (white) belonging to the family Fulgoridae in the order Hemiptera (true bugs).

• Makes use of over 70 different plant species, including fruit trees, ornamental trees, woody trees, vegetables, herbs and vines. Strongly prefers the invasive “Tree of Heaven”

Damage

• Like most hemipterans, SLF feeds on plants using their sucking and piercing mouthparts to extract plant sap.

• Adults and nymphs feed on phloem tissues of young stems with their piercing and sucking mouthparts and excrete large quantities of liquid (honeydew).

• Feeding creates weeping wounds

• Honeydew facilitates the growth of sooty mold

• Weeping Sap attracts activity from hymenopteran such as wasps, hornets, ants, bees etc.

• Impacts quality of outdoor life for everyone

MORE INFORMATION HERE

Area Teen Delivers More Than 1,000 Gifts to Jefferson Health New Jersey Patients

in Honor of Late Brother

Shown, from right, are: DJ’s aunt, Lakesia Anderson; John Graham, Chief Administrative Officer, Jefferson Washington Township Hospital; DJ Alexis; and his “elf” friends, who helped deliver the gifts to pediatric patients.

Turnersville, NJ –

DJ Alexis, a 17-year-old high school student from Sicklerville, NJ, came to Jefferson Washington Township Hospital on Monday, December 23 — along with his parents and several friends — to deliver toys and books for young patients in the ED, Women’s and Children’s, and Pediatric units, as well as kids and teens who receive care through Jefferson’s New Jersey-based Behavioral Health program.

This is the eighth year DJ has held his toy drive in memory of his newborn brother, Emanuel, who died at the hospital during the holiday season in 2006. DJ’s efforts this year resulted in his largest donation day yet — a combined 1,350 toys and books, after a months-long toy drive that pooled the efforts of friends, schoolmates, family members, and area businesses.

Attorney General, DEP Commissioner Announce the Filing of Two New NRD Lawsuits

The State Filed Eight NRD Lawsuits in 2019, Twice the Number Filed in 2018

Handy & Harman Complaint

Sherwin-Williams Complaint

NRD Sites Poster

NRD Fact Sheet

TRENTON –

Continuing to hold New Jersey’s polluters accountable, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Catherine R. McCabe today announced the filing of two new Natural Resource Damage (NRD) lawsuits, one against The Sherwin Williams Company and the other against Handy & Harman Electronic Materials Corp.

The complaint against Sherwin Williams arises out of the company’s operations at sites in Gibbsboro, Voorhees Township and Lindenwold in Camden County. The State alleges that Sherwin Williams manufactured oil-based paints, lacquers and varnishes, and in the process discharged industrial wastes into the ground, into nearby Hilliards Creek and into other surrounding creeks and lakes.

The complaint against Handy & Harman arises out of its operations of an etching and surfacing facility in Montvale, Bergen County in the 1980s. During Handy & Harman’s ownership, the complaint alleges, hazardous substances – including the chemical TCE (trichloroethylene) – were discharged on the property, resulting in the contamination of groundwater and the closure of nearby drinking water wells.

Today’s NRD lawsuits mark another step in Attorney General Grewal and Commissioner McCabe’s efforts to revitalize New Jersey’s environmental enforcement program. After eight years in which the State did not file any new NRD actions, the State has now filed 12 NRD actions in two years. In 2019 alone, the State filed eight such actions, including the two filed today.

“As Attorney General, I have been committed to holding polluters accountable for the legacy of contamination they left in our state,” said Attorney General Grewal. “Too many companies have treated the public’s natural resources like private dumping grounds, despite the health risks to our residents and the harms to our environment. That is why we’ve spent the past two years making polluters pay for the damage they caused, efforts that continue with today’s lawsuits. I am proud of the twelve natural resource damage actions that we filed in just two years, and I know that we are only getting started.”

“Today’s two lawsuits continue DEP’s unwavering commitment to go beyond the cleanup of contaminated sites to requiring the restoration or compensation for the damage to our precious natural resources,” said DEP Commissioner McCabe. “Enforcing our state’s laws against past abuses helps put us on track toward a cleaner, healthier future for all New Jerseyans.”

Sherwin Williams

The Sherwin Williams Company for decades operated a paint manufacturing plant and conducted related operations at multiple sites across Gibbsboro, Voorhees Township and Lindenwold. From the mid-1800s until the 1970s, Sherwin Williams and its predecessors manufactured a variety of paint products, including dry colorants, lacquers, varnishes, resins and both oil-based and water-based paints. As part of its operations, the company used and stored thousands of gallons of hazardous materials such as lead oxide, zinc oxide, lead chromate, and sulfuric acid.

According to today’s lawsuit, Sherwin Williams for many years discharged a “substantial amount of hazardous substances and industrial chemicals” into the ground and surface water. According to the complaint, the contaminants discharged include lead, arsenic and other heavy metals, as well as a variety of potentially harmful chemical compounds and waste paints. At one point in the plant’s history, the complaint notes, locals in and around Gibbsboro, Voorhees and Lindenwold rechristened Hilliards Creek as “Rainbow Creek,” because the water would take on different colors “depending on the color of the paint that Sherwin Williams was manufacturing and/or disposing of on a given day.”

The complaint alleges that Sherwin Williams spent decades knowingly contaminating the environment, and consistently “ignored orders” from DEP to address the pollution it had created. The complaint also asserts that the company “repeatedly issued misleading or inaccurate statements … to downplay its responsibility for the contamination.”

Given the company’s noncompliance with DEP orders, the complaint continues, DEP was forced to refer the sites over to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which placed two of the sites on the National Priorities List as Superfund sites decades ago. The EPA, working with DEP, is overseeing that remediation. DEP is now seeking damages for that prior pollution. The State’s seven-count complaint alleges violations of New Jersey’s Spill Act, Water Pollution Control Act, and Solid Waste Management Act, as well as common law claims involving public nuisance, trespass and negligence. As part of this filing, the State is seeking punitive damages.

Handy & Harman

From 1970 until 1986, Handy & Harman Electronic Materials Corp. and its predecessor conducted metal etching and surfacing operations at a three-acre property located at 20 Craig Road in Montvale, Bergen County. Operations included the cleaning of electrical components through a degreasing process that relied on the solvent TCE.

According to the complaint, TCE was stored in a pair of 500-gallon, above-ground storage tanks located behind the facility, with waste TCE stored in drums located throughout the property.

According to the lawsuit, “numerous” discharges of TCE occurred both inside and outside the plant during its operating years. As a result of the contamination, several drinking water wells operated by the Borough of Park Ridge were impacted, which led to these drinking wells’ closure decades ago.

In December 1986, Handy & Harman entered into an Administrative Consent Order with DEP requiring that the company investigate and remediate environmental contamination at the site. Since then, investigation and remediation activities have taken place both on the property and at impacted drinking water wells surrounding the property.

Through today’s action, DEP seeks to recover damages for the prior injuries to natural resources, as well as for the cleanup and removal costs that have been incurred by the State in the past and that are likely to be incurred going forward.

The six-count complaint alleges violations of the Spill Act, Water Pollution Control Act, and Solid Waste Management Act, and common law claims involving public nuisance, trespass and negligence. (The complaint names other defendants as well, including Steel Partners Holdings, which acquired all outstanding shares of Handy & Harman.)

Environmental Enforcement Program

Under the leadership of Attorney General Grewal and Commissioner McCabe, the State has significantly strengthened its environmental enforcement program. In particular:

The State filed 12 NRD lawsuits in the past two years, including its first such actions in a decade, and including eight in 2019 alone. The cases involved:

Exxon-Mobil, for pollution at its Lail facility in Gloucester County

The manufacturers and distributors of a toxic family of chemicals known as “PFAS” (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances); and

E.I. DuPont de Nemours, including for pollution in Pompton Lakes and at its Chambers Works site.

Filed fourteen environmental justice lawsuits, encompassing a range of urban and rural communities across New Jersey, in December 2018 and November 2019.

Filed other enforcement actions against polluters, including those responsible for:

A solid waste dump in Vernon Township, Sussex County (Feb. 2019);

A solid waste dump in Plumsted Township, Ocean County (Aug. 2019); and

Odor pollution in the Ironbound section of Newark (Sept. 2019).

Filed lawsuits against the federal government to:

Successfully prevent offshore drilling off the New Jersey coast;

Prevent the Trump Administration from rolling back critical federal rules that address climate change, clean air, and clean water; and

Ensure that the federal government takes steps required by law to reduce the ozone pollution entering New Jersey.

NJDOT Releases 511NJConnect System

NJDOT announces proactive

Alert system uses geo-fencing technology to provide information to motorists

(Trenton)

– New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti today announced the launch of 511NJConnect, a new alert system that allows transportation agencies the ability to proactively provide information directly to motorists who are stuck in long-term highway closures.

At the conclusion of the last winter, Commissioner Gutierrez-Scaccetti directed New Jersey’s transportation agencies to find a way to use technology to keep motorists better informed in the event of an extended highway closure.

“We all understand the frustration and stress that can be caused by being stuck in traffic for an extended period of time,” Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti said. “While we hope we never have to use it, 511NJConnect is an innovative way to use technology to provide motorists information and status updates during a long-term road closure. Just knowing that there is someone out there monitoring the situation can be extremely reassuring.”

In the event of a sustained stoppage of traffic, the 511NJConnect system, using geo-fencing technology, will identify motorists in the proximity of the incident and send an alert to their hand-held devices. Motorists within the target area will be given the option to register for automatic text messaging or phone updates throughout the event generated by transportation agency staff monitoring the situation. Once the incident is resolved, motorists who registered for the alerts will be automatically unsubscribed from the system and all personal data will be removed.

The system will allow direct communication and updates about the incident to those motorists who are impacted.

511NJConnect is not a substitute for calling 9-1-1

if a motorist has an actual emergency in their vehicle.

Developed in coordination with the New Jersey State Police, the 511NJConnect system will be used for long-term traffic incidents in which motorists become immobilized for an extended period of time on New Jersey’s Interstate highways, the New Jersey Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway, or the Atlantic City Expressway.

NJDOT remains committed to providing safe roadways to New Jersey motorists and in anticipation of the winter season, the Department is implementing this proactive approach to assist and inform motorists in the event of an unforeseen extended closure of a highway.

Motorists should keep a basic emergency kit in their vehicles that includes non-perishable food and water, a cell phone charger, weather-related items such as a blanket, shovel, ice scraper, or rain gear, and any specialized supplies such as baby or pet care items. Visit

ReadyNJ.gov

for more information about emergency kits and preparedness.

About the 511NJ Suite of Services

— The

511NJ.org website

, phone system, Personalized Travel Service, and

New Jersey Traffic

features provide valuable real-time traffic and traveler information about incidents, crashes, congestion, construction, special events, and travel times.  The Department updates this information 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.

Fingerprints of an invisible, restricted horseracing therapy

By

Katherine Unger Baillie | Kbaillie@Upenn.edu

A treatment called extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) is used in patients both human and equine to speed healing of injured tendons and ligaments. Using high-pressure sonic waves, ESWT is thought to increase blood flow to the treated area, and has been shown to reduce pain over the short term.

Mary Robinson, director of Penn Vet’s Equine Pharmacology Laboratory, led work with lab member Jinwen Chen, to find fingerprints of shockwave therapy, a treatment used to address injury and pain in both humans and horses. The practice is banned in racehorses 10 days prior to competition. (Image: Paulick Report)

In racehorses, however, masking pain can come with a cost: overworked minor injuries could lead to major ones—or even pose a life-threatening risk to both horse and rider.

For that reason, horseracing authorities have banned the use of ESWT for horses within 10 days of a race or sporting event. But the question of how to enforce the ban on this “invisible” therapy remained open. Now a team led by

Mary Robinson

, director of the School of Veterinary Medicine’s

Equine Pharmacology Research Laboratory

, and lab member Jinwen Chen has found that the practice does in fact leave a trail. In a paper in

Equine Veterinary Journal

, they report finding potential biomarkers of ESWT that, with further testing, could one day be used to enforce the ESWT ban.

“Because it\’s not a drug—it\’s applied to the surface of the skin—it\’s just not an easy thing to detect,” says Robinson. “After a lot of trial and error, our study was able to measure changes in levels of five inflammatory factors, some of which we could detect up to three weeks after the shockwave therapy.”

The attempt to find these biomarkers dates back roughly a decade.

“It was Dr. [Lawrence] Soma, my predecessor, who said [the lab] was going to have to look at blood-based or urine-based biomarkers to try to detect shockwave therapy,” Robinson notes.

To find the fingerprints that ESWT might leave behind, the researchers tested the therapy on 11 horses kept as a study herd at Penn Vet’s

New Bolton Center

. The researchers collected blood samples from the group of horses, composed of Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds, at several timepoints both before and after they each received a single dose of ESWT to a leg.

Over the years, the lab investigated a number of potential biomarkers, molecules that would indicate a horse received ESWT. They zeroed in on 10 pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory signaling molecules, called cytokines, which they can measure from the blood using a sensitive test called ELISA.

“We looked a week before giving the shockwave therapy to see if there were any changes in the baseline period, due to changes in time of day or anything else, and didn’t see anything we could define as significant,” Robinson says. “And in the post-shockwave period we went out to three weeks.”

They could not detect changes in five of the cytokines they examined following ESWT. But the other five—TNF-a, IL1b, IL-1RA, IL-6, and sTLR2—did respond. Of those, TNF-a levels were significantly increased through the whole of the post-therapy study period, three weeks.

More study is necessary, Robinson emphasizes, before these biomarkers could be used to assess inappropriate use of ESWT in racehorses. For one, the researchers would like to see if measuring these same molecules in horses that are actively training and racing, or that have an acute injury, might change their results.

For that, she and her colleagues are actively pursuing follow-up studies to look at these biomarkers and other indicators, using a biobank of samples from client-owned animals, including injured and active racehorses, treated at New Bolton Center.

The end goal is to keep the sport safe.

“Shockwave therapy is great as long as people rest the horse after using it,” she says. “We are concerned that it’s being abused in the racehorse industry and that it could potentially result in breakdowns. That’s exactly what we’re trying to avoid.”

Dr. Mary Robinson

is an assistant professor of veterinary pharmacology and director of

the Equine Pharmacology Laboratory

at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

Jinwen Chen is a research specialist in t

he Equine Pharmacology Laboratory

at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

Additional coauthors on the study were Penn Vet’s

Darko Stefanovski

,

Joanne Haughan, Zibin Jiang, Raymond Boston, and Lawrence Soma.

The study was supported by the Pennsylvania State Racing Commissions and the Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen Association at Pocono and Chester Downs, Meadows Standardbred Owners Association, Pennsylvania Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association at Penn National and Presque Isle Downs, and The Racing Medication and Testing Consortium.

Future studies to expand on this body of research are largely supported by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association (PHBA),

whose generous support established New Bolton Center\’s state-of-the-art Equine BioBank.

About Penn Vet

Ranked among the top ten veterinary schools worldwide, the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) is a global leader in veterinary education, research, and clinical care. Founded in 1884, Penn Vet is the first veterinary school developed in association with a medical school. The school is a proud member of the One Health initiative, linking human, animal, and environmental health.

Penn Vet serves a diverse population of animals at its two campuses, which include extensive diagnostic and research laboratories. Ryan Hospital in Philadelphia provides care for dogs, cats, and other domestic/companion animals, handling nearly 35,300 patient visits a year. New Bolton Center, Penn Vet’s large-animal hospital on nearly 700 acres in rural Kennett Square, PA, cares for horses and livestock/farm animals. The hospital handles nearly 5,300 patient visits a year, while the Field Service treats more than 38,000 patients at local farms. In addition, New Bolton Center’s campus includes a swine center, working dairy, and poultry unit that provide valuable research for the agriculture industry.