Pubdate: Thu, 17 Mar 2005
Source: Times-Picayune, The (LA)
Copyright: 2005 The Times-Picayune
Contact:  http://www.nola.com/t-p/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/848
Author: Meghan Gordon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

OFFICER ACCUSED OF AIDING FAKED DRUG TEST

'Clean' Urine Traded For Sex, Official Says

A state probation officer who supervised hundreds of St. Tammany Parish 
drug offenders was indicted Wednesday on allegations he helped a 
19-year-old woman pass her court-ordered drug test by swapping his own 
urine for hers in exchange for sex.

Edward "Scott" Weiler, 42, was a probation officer in the 22nd Judicial 
District Court in Covington for three years. He resigned Feb. 4, shortly 
after the allegations surfaced, said Pam Laborde, a state Department of 
Public Safety and Corrections spokeswoman.

A grand jury formally charged him with two felonies: malfeasance and 
obstruction of justice, said Assistant District Attorney Joe Tosterud, who 
presented the evidence against Weiler.

A warrant was issued for his arrest immediately after the hearing, but he 
had not been booked by Wednesday evening.

Tosterud said the woman was ordered to report to Weiler in connection with 
pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Like a 
vast majority of drug offenders, she was ordered by a judge to submit to 
random urine tests.

In return for a sexual favor, Weiler volunteered his own urine when he 
submitted her drug test sometime between Jan. 1 and Feb. 4, Tosterud said.

The allegations surfaced when the woman secretly recorded her subsequent 
phone conversations with Weiler, during which he admitted their illicit 
trade, he said. Her defense attorney, John Lindner, turned over the tapes 
to prosecutors.

Lindner could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Tosterud said the obstruction charge relates to Weiler's tampering with 
evidence in the woman's drug case.

"He tampered with evidence that should have been presented in court," he 
said. "It's a black eye for all of us in law enforcement."

Weiler was hired Aug. 20, 2001, and supervised an average caseload of 120 
to 160 drug offenders at a time, Laborde said.

Weiler violated a corrections department policy designed to prevent such 
improprieties, Laborde said. Officers who are not the same sex as their 
probationers must ask a witness to observe all urine testing.

"They have to have a witness or somebody else just to protect the integrity 
of the test and make sure that allegations like these don't crop up," 
Laborde said.

Probation and parole officers interact with defendants in any number of 
environments, including at their homes, workplaces and in court.

Information on the status of the woman's probation on drug charges was 
unavailable late Wednesday.
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MAP posted-by: Beth