ATTORNEY ALLEGES LAFOURCHE DRUG COURT COVERUP

THIBODAUX -- A local lawyer alleges some Lafourche Parish Drug Court
officials may have tried to cover up the illegal activity of a lab technician.

Lafourche sheriff's detectives arrested lab technician Glynn Lefay Rhodes
Nov. 8 for malfeasance in office after authorities received complaints he
reportedly falsified urinalysis drug screenings for at least two offenders
in the court's onsite lab.

But Margaret Sollars, a lawyer for the Lafourche Indigent Defender Office,
said she has been aware of accusations against Rhodes since May, and she
believes he might be guilty of altering screening results for certain
offenders for up to a year before that.

Sollars said over the last year, Drug Court clients repeatedly told court
officials, including Drug Court Administrator and Clinical Director Cheryl
Scharf, of Rhodes' activity.

"I have no other comments to make on this," Scharf said Tuesday when asked
about the allegation.

Sollars said more than 20 of her clients have confirmed the allegations
against Rhodes, saying he sought sexual favors from some of them in
exchange for the clean test results.

"One guy had absolute control over the urinalysis," Sollars said.

Sollars said she first heard about the possible tampering from a client in
May. Sollars said she took her concerns to Scharf. Scharf doubted her
client's truthfulness and wanted to arrange a confrontation between Rhodes
and the client. Sollars said she rejected the idea on behalf of her client.

At that point Scharf told her she wanted to "handle it administratively,"
Sollars said.

Scharf also admitted to Sollars that clients had complained directly to
her, but she had not decided if she believed them, Sollars said. While she
was waiting on Scharf to handle the matter, Sollars said she began getting
more complaints from clients.

This created stress for some of her clients, she said, because for more
than a year they did not know if their tests would come out positive or
negative, even though they knew they were not using drugs. Other clients
told her they have used drugs with near impunity during their time in Drug
Court, certain they would not be caught because Rhodes would alter their
positive screenings to reflect negative results.

Sollars said one of her clients, one of the first to tell her about Rhodes,
seemed to do well for awhile but suddenly disappeared in mid-June. Three
weeks later she was found and arrested. After her arrest, the client
contacted Sollars and gave her specifics about her dealings with Rhodes.

Sollars said she became more concerned as summer gave way to fall but she
saw no change in the way the Drug Court was handling screenings.

She told District Judge John E. LeBlanc, who oversees the Drug Court, about
her client's accusations on Sept. 16. Sollars was told Rhodes was on
vacation that week. He was dismissed Sept. 23, Sollars said.

Sollars said she expected an investigation of the lab after Rhodes'
dismissal, but instead she discovered that Drug Court personnel had spent
two days clearing it out before Rhodes was charged or an investigation was
begun by the Sheriff's Office.