Man who threatened USADA’s Tygart agrees to guilty plea; no jail time

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The head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency Travis Tygart addresses the media at the EU Council in Brussels on Friday, May 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

DENVER – A Florida man who sent an expletive-filled email threatening to kill U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart after USADA stripped Lance Armstrong of his Tour de France titles has agreed to a guilty plea that will not result in jail time.

Gerrit Keats of Clearwater, Fla., agreed to probation in a plea deal in federal court Monday. The sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 23, 2014.

The court filing includes a transcript from an email sent by Keats to Tygart, dated Oct. 24, 2012 — two weeks after USADA released details of Armstrong’s doping violations — with the subject line, “Nazi tragic Tygart.”

The email is six paragraphs filled with foul language and racist innuendo.

The maximum penalties for the offence were five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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