Pubdate: Wed, 04 Dec 2002
Source: Daily Comet (LA)
Copyright: 2002 Comet-Press Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  http://dailycomet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1505
Note: Letter writers must provide phone number for verification
Author: Rose-Marie Lillian, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

COVERUP ALLEGED IN DRUG COURT

A local lawyer alleges some Lafourche Parish Drug Court officials might 
have tried to cover up the illegal activity of a lab technician.

Lafourche sheriff's detectives arrested lab technician Glynn Lefay Rhodes 
Nov. 8 for malfeasance in office after authorities received complaints he 
reportedly falsified urinalysis drug screenings for at least two offenders 
in the court's on-site lab.

But Margaret Sollars, a lawyer for the Indigent Defender Office, said she 
has been aware of accusations against Rhodes since May, and she believes he 
might be guilty of altering screening results for certain offenders for up 
to a year before that. Sollars said over the last year, drug court clients 
repeatedly told court officials, including drug court administrator and 
clinical director Cheryl Scharf, of Rhodes' activity.

"I have no other comments to make on this," Scharf said Tuesday when asked 
about the allegation.

Sollars said more than 20 of her clients have confirmed the allegations 
against Rhodes, saying he sought sexual favors from some of them in 
exchange for the clean test results.

"One guy had absolute control over the urinalysis," Sollars said.

Sollars said she first heard about the possible tampering from a client in 
May and said she took her concerns to Scharf. Scharf doubted her client's 
truthfulness and wanted to arrange a confrontation between Rhodes and the 
client. Sollars said she rejected the idea on behalf of her client.

At that point Scharf told her she wanted to "handle it administratively," 
Sollars said. Scharf also admitted to Sollars that clients had complained 
directly to her, but she had not decided if she believed them, Sollars 
said. While she was waiting on Scharf to handle the problem, Sollars said 
she began getting more complaints from clients.

This created stress for some of her clients, she said, because for more 
than a year they did not know if their tests would come out positive or 
negative, even though they knew they were not using drugs. Other clients 
told her they have used drugs with near impunity during their time in drug 
court, certain they would not be caught because Rhodes would alter their 
positive screenings to reflect negative results.

Sollars said one of her clients, one of the first to tell her about Rhodes, 
seemed to do well for awhile, but suddenly disappeared in mid-June. Three 
weeks later she was found and arrested. After her arrest, the client 
contacted Sollars and gave her specifics about her dealings with Rhodes.

Sollars said she became more concerned as summer gave way to fall but she 
saw no change in the way the drug court was handling screenings.

She told District Judge John E. LeBlanc, who oversees the drug court, about 
her client's accusations on Sept. 16. Sollars was told Rhodes was on 
vacation that week. He was dismissed Sept. 23, Sollars said.

Sollars expected an investigation of the lab after Rhodes' dismissal, but 
instead she discovered that drug court personnel had spent two days 
clearing it out before Rhodes' was charged with a crime or an investigation 
begun by the Sheriff's Office.

"As far as I'm concerned, that's tampering with evidence," Sollars said. 
The lab was closed and Scharf arranged for off-site drug screenings for 
drug court clients, which is the system the court still is using. Sollars 
said that during the investigation some re-tests of Rhodes' original 
screenings came back from an independent off-site lab as negative when he 
had recorded them as positive.

"Everyone cooperated fully (in the investigation)," Sheriff Craig Webre 
said Monday. "The evidence required to complete it was there."

Webre also said he is not aware of cases of negative screenings being 
misrepresented as positive.

After Rhodes' dismissal, one of Sollars' clients agreed to meet with her 
and an assistant district attorney Oct. 6. From there, they went to see 
Webre, then talked to LeBlanc, and ended the day by sitting down with 
Scharf, Sollars said.

That client had reached the last stage in the drug court program. She asked 
to be transferred to the Terrebonne Parish drug court because she was 
afraid of retribution from unnamed people in the court system because of 
her statements to authorities, but LeBlanc denied the request, Sollars 
said. Instead she has been placed in the middle stage of the program and 
must work her way back up.

LeBlanc said Monday that he has no comment on the investigation of Rhodes.

Sollars said she is concerned that over the course of the last 18 months 
some drug court clients might have gone to jail because of false test 
results. She believes others have graduated who should not have, but she is 
hopeful for the future of the program.

"Drug court is unique," she said. "You work as a team to help a person 
overcome addiction. It's a fine program."

Sollars said she believes drug court has let her clients down. She would 
like drug court officials to treat her clients the same way they are asked 
to behave - with honesty and integrity.

"I don't want to see drug court disbanded - it does too much good. But I 
think the drug court clients have a right to be treated openly and fairly."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D