Two arrested for sending death threats to Tygart during Armstrong doping investigation

Two men have been arrested for allegedly sending death threats to United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) chief Travis Tygart last year while his organisation was working to expose cyclist Lance Armstrong as a doper.

According to the New York Daily News, Gerrit Keats of Florida and Robert Hutchins of Utah have each been indicted on one count of knowingly transmitting a threat to Tygart and have been ordered to appear on July 29 in a court in Colorado, where USADA is based.

The report further said that Tygart received death threats last year as Armstrong worked relentlessly to stop the USADA investigation before he was stripped of his Tour de France titles and banned from sports.

Stating that the information regarding the death threats directly received by the USADA was referred to the appropriate federal law enforcement officials, USADA's board chairman Edwin Moses expressed his gratitude to the officials for handling the matter in accordance with the federal laws.

Moses further said that the board respected the judicial process and will continue to focus on their mission to protect the rights of clean athletes and the sport's integrity.

The report further said that the Hutchins' threat allegedly came on August 23, the same day that Armstrong surrendered to USADA with yet another doping denial, using inflammatory language in a statement claiming that USADA was running a 'pitiful charade'.

The report also mentioned that Keats' threat is alleged to have come on October 24, two weeks after USADA released a report that compiled vast evidence of Armstrong's guilt and eventually forced him to confess to doping.