California drug-testing company owner sentenced for falsifying lab results

July 26, 2018

Tyson Fisher

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An owner of a California drug-testing company for motor carriers was sentenced in a U.S. District Court in Sacramento for falsifying lab tests results. Court documents reveal that the lab tests were never conducted.

On July 13, Demetri Dearth, owner of Advanced Substance Abuse Programs (ASAP), in Redding, Calif., was sentenced to one year imprisonment, one year supervised released and has to pay $2,500 in special assessment fees for her role in the false drug test results.

Dearth was responsible for assisting employers bound by Department of Transportation regulations requiring pre-employment and random drug tests for commercial drivers. According to the indictment, ASAP was hired by approximately 80 trucking companies.

From March 2009 to February 2010, ASAP’s job was to collect the urine samples from commercial drivers and send them to a certified laboratory. However, Dearth failed to send many of the samples to a lab.

Rather than have a medical review officer review lab results, Dearth created false Custody and Control Forms, suggesting the samples had been sent to a lab and reviewed. Dearth even went as far as including the names and addresses of specific medical review officers.

Dearth also falsified the reports. Clients would receive fraudulent medical review officer reports indicating negative test results. These fake reports included forged signatures of a medical review officer.

In August 2013, Dearth was indicted on 25 counts, including nine counts of mail fraud and 16 counts of false statements. In October 2017, Dearth pleaded guilty to the charges. Dearth filed an appeal to the sentence on July 23.

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