OFFICERS BECOME WHIZZES AT FAKERY

By the time Carlos Dienno took a court-mandated drug test last year,
word had already leaked out to his probation officer about "The
Whizzinator."

Two weeks before Dienno's June 17 appointment, court officials had
caught an 18-year-old college student wearing a prosthetic device
attached to a heat-controlled pouch of synthetic urine.

On the alert, a probation officer noticed something didn't seem
natural as Dienno was relieving himself.

"He obviously didn't know we were more conscious and aware of the
Whizzinator and that we were looking a bit more closely," Chief
Probation Officer Caesar Garcia said.

Dienno on Friday pleaded guilty to the rare Class B misdemeanor charge
of falsification of a drug test result. He was sentenced to the
maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Bexar County officials said they now want to focus on the
California-based manufacturer who makes the device that is primarily
used to cheat on drug tests.

"It's not so much about the person who uses it, but it's about the
airline pilot who has a drug problem, or the nuclear plant employee
and you can go on and on with others whose employment could put the
public's safety in danger," Assistant District Attorney Tony Reyes
said.

Whizzinator company officials could not be reached for comment late
Friday. In prior interviews, a co-owner, who gave his name only as
Dennis, said the 3-year-old product is designed to be used lawfully by
people who want to keep information about their bodies private.

Dienno, who was on probation for possession of a controlled substance,
is the second person in Bexar County to be convicted of using the $149
gadget, which comes in four skin tones.

The other person, Ruben Escamilla Jr. was also handed the maximum
sentence.

"The thing with (Escamilla) was that he wasn't even using the right
shade of color," Garcia said.