DRUG TEST MAY CHANGE AFTER MAN'S SNEAKY TRICK

SAN ANTONIO -- Probation authorities may require probationers to strip to
their underwear for urine tests after a man convicted of drunken driving
used a prosthetic device in an attempt to fake results.

Bexar County authorities say Ruben Escamilla Jr., 18, strapped a device
called the Whizzinator to his body before taking the test.

The $150 device, sold by a California company, comes with a phallic device
in various skin tones and a pouch that's strapped to the stomach. The pouch
contains dehydrated urine, which is warmed by a heat pad.

"We're going to have to pay much more attention," Probation Chief Caesar
Garcia said. "We may have to go a little further now and require them to
drop their pants."

An official in the district attorney's office said Escamilla could face
additional misdemeanor charges. That would be in addition to the 180-day
jail term he was given June 11 for violating his probation by "possessing a
phallic device to provide a false urine sample."

The Whizzinator, which is sold on the Internet, was discovered when
Escamilla showed up for a required drug test and was told he'd be taken into
custody for an April drug violation.

Texas is one of three states that prohibit the use or manufacture of any
substance or device used to falsify drug test results, according to the Drug
and Alcohol Testing Industry Association. "Texas, Pennsylvania and South
Carolina, that's it," said Laura Shelton, the association's executive
director.

Other companies have sold synthetic urine in heat packs, but Shelton said
the Whizzinator was the first product she knew of that included a phallic
device.

"Someone was really thinking when they developed this one," she said.