COVERUP ALLEGED IN DRUG COURT

A local lawyer alleges some Lafourche Parish Drug Court officials might
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 on-site lab.

But Margaret Sollars, a lawyer for the 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 and 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 problem, 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 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 with a crime or an investigation
begun by the Sheriff's Office.

"As far as I'm concerned, that's tampering with evidence," Sollars said.
The lab was closed and Scharf arranged for off-site drug screenings for
drug court clients, which is the system the court still is using. Sollars
said that during the investigation some re-tests of Rhodes' original
screenings came back from an independent off-site lab as negative when he
had recorded them as positive.

"Everyone cooperated fully (in the investigation)," Sheriff Craig Webre
said Monday. "The evidence required to complete it was there."

Webre also said he is not aware of cases of negative screenings being
misrepresented as positive.

After Rhodes' dismissal, one of Sollars' clients agreed to meet with her
and an assistant district attorney Oct. 6. From there, they went to see
Webre, then talked to LeBlanc, and ended the day by sitting down with
Scharf, Sollars said.

That client had reached the last stage in the drug court program. She asked
to be transferred to the Terrebonne Parish drug court because she was
afraid of retribution from unnamed people in the court system because of
her statements to authorities, but LeBlanc denied the request, Sollars
said. Instead she has been placed in the middle stage of the program and
must work her way back up.

LeBlanc said Monday that he has no comment on the investigation of Rhodes.

Sollars said she is concerned that over the course of the last 18 months
some drug court clients might have gone to jail because of false test
results. She believes others have graduated who should not have, but she is
hopeful for the future of the program.

"Drug court is unique," she said. "You work as a team to help a person
overcome addiction. It's a fine program."

Sollars said she believes drug court has let her clients down. She would
like drug court officials to treat her clients the same way they are asked
to behave - with honesty and integrity.

"I don't want to see drug court disbanded - it does too much good. But I
think the drug court clients have a right to be treated openly and fairly."