GREENVILLE COUNTY MAN CONVICTED, SENTENCED FOR SELLING URINE TESTS

A Marietta man was ordered to serve six months in jail and pay a
$10,000 fine after a jury found him guilty Friday of selling urine
kits to defraud drug tests.

Circuit Judge John Few also sentenced Kenneth Curtis, owner of
Privacy Protection Services, to five years probation during which he
cannot sell urine or leave the state.

This was the first arrest made under a 1999 law passed by the state's
lawmakers after Curtis got national publicity for operating his
northern Greenville County business.

Curtis, who is out on $30,000 cash bond until his appeal can be
heard, said he will have to find another way to support himself while
he waits for higher courts to hear his argument that random drug
tests violates First Amendment rights.

"I have no other choice at this point than to find something else to
do," Curtis said. "I have to comply with the court's orders."

Assistant Solicitor Mindy Hervey called Curtis' message "propoganda
and rhetoric" and that his business allows anyone from doctors and
pilots to defraud drug tests. "Sooner or later he'll do his time,
it's just a question of when," she said.

It is legal to sell urine in South Carolina but illegal to defraud a
drug-screening test. Curtis had moved his company to North Carolina
shortly after his arrest this year.

Initially, Curtis said he didn't think he would have to shut down the
business. When Few asked him if he would continue to sell urine,
Curtis responded by saying, "Not in the state of South Carolina."

But Few said part of Curtis' probation is that he may not be involved
in any way of any business that sells urine. "During that probation
the defendant may not sell any urine anywhere," Few said. Curtis said
his website will probably stay up but won't continue to advertise the
urine business or allow readers to buy urine. He said he's willing to
sell the domain name and business to someone willing to keep the
cause going. "I think I've accomplished what I've set out to do," he
said.