Pubdate: Sat, 05 Jan 2002 Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY) Copyright: 2002 The Courier-Journal Contact: http://www.courier-journal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97 Author: Gregory A Hall Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing) MAN SENTENCED IN DRUG-TEST BRIBERY CASE He Gets Home Incarceration For False Reports A Louisville man convicted of taking bribes in exchange for falsely reporting the results of court-ordered drug tests will have to spend six months on home incarceration and pay a $3,000 fine. Rodney K. Sanford, 49, also received two years on probation as part of his sentence, which U.S. Chief District Judge John G. Heyburn II imposed yesterday. Sanford, the former president of Adapt Inc., entered a plea agreement in September to federal charges of wire fraud and using an interstate facility to promote bribery. He maintained his innocence but conceded that the evidence against him would result in a conviction during a trial, his attorney, Frank Mascagni, said yesterday. "He accepted the consequences for his actions," Mascagni said. Adapt, a drug-testing company, provided services for defendants in Jefferson circuit and district courts as a condition of their pre-trial release or probation. Sanford was accused of soliciting and receiving bribes from defendants in 1996, in exchange for falsely reporting that the tests had found no indication of illicit drug use, or for not reporting tests that found the defendant had been using illicit drugs, according to the federal prosecutor's office. Sanford originally was indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury on charges of bribery, extortion and tampering with public records, but his trial in May 1999 was halted while lawyers argued over whether FBI records surrounding the case should be given to the defense. The prosecutor later asked the judge to dismiss the case, and the matter went to federal court. The federal indictment in August 2000 stated that Sanford sent urine specimens for a person on probation to a commercial laboratory in Lexington on Oct. 10 and Dec. 20, 1996. The sample showed that the individual had recently used cocaine, but Sanford asked and got $500 to keep that information from a circuit judge, the indictment alleged. The indictment did not identify the judge or the offenders. Sanford's indictment also cited an Oct. 1, 1996, drug test -- which if positive would have resulted in prison time for the offender. The test was positive, but Sanford accepted a $500 bribe to say that the test was negative, the indictment charged. Sanford is trying to put the matter behind him, Mascagni said. Sanford is employed, but his attorney declined to say where, although he said the job isn't related to the courts. "This has been very humbling to him and his family," Mascagni said. "It's been tough, and we're glad that there's some closure to it." A probation and parole office began questioning the integrity of the tests performed by Adapt in 1997. Leonard Gardenour, in letters to judges and in other court documents, alleged that offenders who showed up drug free in tests by Adapt were found to be using drugs in tests performed at the probation and parole office. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth