The Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Federal officials on Monday arrested three former employees of an Albuquerque substance abuse treatment firm on felony charges, alleging they helped criminal offenders falsify urine samples required for court-ordered drug testing.
The three are accused of helping to falsify urine samples a total of 20 times from offenders who were required to submit the samples as a condition of their probation or parole, U.S. District Attorney Kenneth Gonzales’ office announced Monday in a written statement.
All three are former employees of Relevancy Inc., an Albuquerque firm that provides drug-testing services for the U.S. Department of Probation and Pretrial Services. All the alleged offenses occurred between January 2009 and February 2010.
Brandon Ortiz, 29, Amber Sanchez, 25, and Ronald Lopez, 44, all of Albuquerque, are scheduled to be arraigned today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lorenzo F. Garcia.
The three allegedly used several techniques to falsify the urine samples, inluding discarding the samples, giving criminal offenders advance notice of “random” urinalysis tests and allowing offenders to bring substitute urine samples.
Ortiz is charged with 12 counts of discarding urine samples and three counts of permitting offenders to bring substitute samples.
Sanchez is charged with three counts of providing offenders with advance notice of drug tests. Lopez is charged with two counts of permitting offenders to bring substitute samples.
If convicted, each faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count.
Copyright 2010 Albuquerque Journal