LAB TECH FLUSHED IN TEST SCAM

Charged With Taking Bribes To Swap Urine

Armed with heroin-laced urine, authorities busted a Brooklyn lab
worker yesterday for allegedly taking bribes to alter the drug tests
of potential city workers.

The technician, Ada Stephen, 41, tried to destroy evidence against
her - by flushing a $100 bribe down the toilet - when investigators
arrived to arrest her following an unusual sting operation, authorities said.

"All city employees should know that these tests are not a game and
tampering with the results is illegal," said Rose Gill Hearn,
commissioner of the Department of Investigation.

The city began investigating Stephen after getting a tip last week
that a worker at Bay Park Medical/Occupational Health Services in
Park Slope was accepting cash to alter drug-test results, authorities said.

Hoping to catch Stephen in the act, investigators first went to the
city medical examiner and obtained urine tainted with cocaine and
heroin by a toxicologist, authorities said.

An undercover investigator then smuggled the laced urine into the
Brooklyn lab where he pretended to be applying for a job at the city
Housing Authority.

When the investigator met Stephen, he told her he was anxious he
might test positive for drugs, and then went into the bathroom and
poured the dirty urine into the specimen cup, authorities said.

After testing the urine, which not surprisingly came back positive
for drugs, Stephen allegedly told the investigator that she would
alter the results in exchange for a $100.

She allegedly took the payoff and then filed paperwork with the
Housing Authority that falsely claimed the investigator had passed
the drug test.

"She later admitted to flushing the money" down the toilet when city
investigators showed up to bust her, said Emily Gest, a Department of
Investigation spokeswoman.

Stephen faces up to four years in prison on charges of accepting a
bribe, forgery and tampering with evidence.

She was released yesterday after being arraigned and could not be reached.

The Park Slope lab where she works as a technician is paid by the
city to handle drug tests for prospective Housing Authority
employees, including truckdrivers, maintenance workers and administrators.

"Vendors who do drug testing for the city should be warned," Hearn
said. "You will be caught if you tamper with drug-test results and
there will be serious consequences."