MAN SENTENCED IN DRUG TESTS FOR TRUCK DRIVERS

FORT WORTH - The owner of a defunct driver-staffing company was sentenced
to two years' probation Monday for allowing a man who had tested positive
for marijuana to drive a commercial truck.

A plea bargain with federal prosecutors helped Roy Smillie, 62, of Venus
avoid the risk of a long prison sentence. U.S. District Judge Terry Means
also ordered Smillie to pay a $4,000 fine.

The federal investigation has cost Smillie his business, which was shut
down in December, defense attorney Tim Evans said. Smillie now lives on
Social Security and odd part-time jobs, Evans said.

As owner and president of CDL Staffing, which had offices in Arlington and
later Fort Worth, Smillie was accused of violating federal trucking safety
laws from September 1997 to October 1998. Those regulations require alcohol
and drug testing for drivers and record-keeping of the results for audits.

CDL Staffing agreed in its contracts with motor carriers that it would
provide drivers who met mandated driver qualification standards.

Court records indicate that Smillie instructed his employees to destroy
records of positive drug tests and record only negative results.

Federal safety regulations require "that no driver shall report for duty,
remain on duty or perform a safety-sensitive function, if the driver tests
positive for controlled substances," according to court records.

Smillie gave drivers tips on how to manipulate a drug test, court records show.

"Smillie told the drivers to use a substance named 'Golden Seal' and that
it would flush the controlled substance that had been consumed out of their
body," prosecutors said in court records. "He instructed the drivers after
consuming Golden Seal to take another drug test in order to obtain a
negative result."

The government's witness list, had the case gone to trial, included seven
former drivers of CDL Staffing, a former dispatcher and a former business
manager of the company.

Under the plea bargain entered April 17, Smillie pleaded guilty to a charge
related to a 1997 incident involving one driver.

Prosecutors said they agreed to the plea bargain because there was no
evidence alleging that drivers supplied by CDL Staffing caused accidents or
injuries or drove under the influence of drugs.

Probation was the appropriate sentence given the circumstances of the case,
Evans said.

"There were no injuries or accidents," Evans said. "He did not allow
impaired drivers to get behind the wheel of a commercial truck."

Smillie could have faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and fines
up to $750,000 if he had been tried and convicted on the three felony
counts originally charged. Instead, he pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count.