FORMER DRUG TESTER ADMITS TAKING SHORTCUTS

Sherrie L. Kaneaster, 34, Faces Sentencing In A Federal Fraud Case
Involving Drug Testing Her Company Did On Truck Drivers

The former owner of a Portland-area drug-testing business pleaded guilty in
federal court Monday to a charge stemming from a scheme to take shortcuts
in testing truck drivers.

Sherrie L. Kaneaster, 34, who also used the last names of Winks and Reavis,
owned a Portland-area business that contracted with various trucking
companies to test drivers for drug use from at least 1995 to 1997,
according to a federal indictment.

The business was known as Sherrie's Quality Services, Quality Service
Coordinators Inc. and Quality Specimen Collections Inc., according to the
indictment.

Kaneaster now lives in Hermiston but had addresses in Northeast Portland,
Fairview and Troutdale when she ran her drug-testing business.

The U.S. Department of Transportation requires all truckers to submit to
pre-employment, post-accident and random testing for the use of opiates,
cocaine, amphetamines, phencyclidine and marijuana. Drug-testing
regulations require that a physician trained to evaluate drug tests review
the results, both negative and positive, according to the indictment.

If a test is positive for drug use, the physician must attempt to contact
the driver to determine if something else could explain the result. In
either a negative or positive result, the physician must certify the results.

Kaneaster's business contracted with trucking companies to collect urine
samples, have them tested by a qualified laboratory and have a physician
review the results.

According to the indictment, Kaneaster devised a scheme to defraud trucking
companies in several ways. She claimed that drug tests had been reviewed by
physicians when they had not. She occasionally overturned positive tests
and indicated that a physician had certified them as negative. A 35-count
indictment issued in October charges her with falsely stating that a
physician had certified drug tests, mail fraud and wire fraud.

Some of the companies include Felton Trucking, T & G Trucking, Gulick
Trucking and Miller Trucking, according to the indictment.

Kaneaster pleaded guilty to one count of falsely stating that a physician
had reviewed a drug test. She faces a maximum five years in prison, but
under sentencing guidelines could be placed under house arrest.

Sentencing before U.S. District Judge Owen M. Panner is scheduled for April
21.