Elizabeth Pope, owner of drug testing company Eastgate Laboratory Testing, has been found guilty of knowingly falsifying drug test results for truck drivers and personally pocketing $109,000 as a result of the scam. Despite being convicted of fraud and the potential for loss of life which resulted, Pope was not sentenced to a single day in prison.
Eastgate used to be a standard drug testing company. They would receive samples, have an on-staff doctor test them, and then issue results like they were supposed to. Then, in 2008, Pope decided that she could make more money by accepting payment for testing without actually having to pay a doctor to test anything. Instead, she fraudulently used the signature of a doctor who used to work for her to issue bogus results.
The scam was discovered when a veteran driver with 18 years of experience took pre-employment drug tests that came back with odd results. The driver contacted Eastgate to try and speak with the doctor who he thought had conducted the tests. When Pope refused to give him the doctor’s contact information, the driver looked him up on the internet and reached out him. When the doctor realized what was happening, he exposed Pope’s fraud, ending her four year, $109,000 scam.
Pope was sentenced to eight months of house arrest, four years of probation, and ordered to pay back the $109,000 she made as a result of her fraud.
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So long as people get off with a slap on the wrist this type of fraud will continue.
at least three years in prison . if had been a driver in any kind of wrong doing , suspended license , and jail time . we are the backbone of this country , and should be treated as such . we have no voice , we have no leadership , we are not respected , and most of all , we are under paid . any driver with three years clean driving record , over the road , should be grossing $1500 a week . until we can unite as one , their is no hope for over the road driver . we are considered to be of lesser value , and that mind set will continue , until we speak with one voice .
Sounds like Pope, the owner of Eastgate Laboratory Testing, was either just taking the fees for doing the test but not actually doing them, or more likely using a commercial, over the counter, type drug screen to determine results. You can buy them at at Walmart or CVS for between $2 — $15, depending on how many different drugs you want to test for. Her “crime” was to use a forged signature for source authority… pretty much a victimless crime. The problem probably arose when a result was a false positive and the individual being tested wanted to discuss the results with the Doc. The “potential for loss of life” in the article was somewhat of a verbage overkill used, I suspect, for dramatic impact. Eight months of house arrest, four years of probation and having to pay back the $109,000 was, in my rarely humble opinion, fair and just punishment. This way the city, county or state gets to save the $30,000 estimated average annual cost to house the prisoner. A win/win decision if ever I heard one!
Next time they ask me why I peed in an empty Gatoraide bottle, I’ll just say ; Drug test