Businessman faked drug test results, allowing clients to keep using, police say

Businessman faked drug test results, allowing clients to keep using, police say

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ST. GEORGE — The owner of a private probation company has been charged with passing one of his clients on all of her drug tests — even though police say she was still heavily using drugs — and then lying about it in court.

That woman also told authorities that she knows of others who paid to be supervised by the same company because they knew they could continue using drugs while on probation and get away with it, according to court documents.

Sidney Wright, 75, of Toquerville, was charged this week in 5th District Court with communications fraud, a class A misdemeanor, and two counts of providing false or misleading information, a class B misdemeanor.

Wright runs Guardian Private Probation, a licensed company in St. George that advertises itself as providing probation services to people convicted in court.

In January, Wright "filed a progress report with false information (drug testing dates/results) to a Washington County Attorney’s Office prosecutor," according to charging documents.

Then in March, Wright again told a judge that a probationer under his supervision was "testing clean for drugs," even though he had "not drug tested her sufficiently to make that determination," the charges state.

The allegations came to light in January when a woman told her attorney that she was still using drugs, even though Wright was going to tell the court that she was testing clean, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in 5th District Court.

Wright had told the woman's attorney "on multiple occasions that (she) was doing well and she was drug testing clean," the warrant states.

The Washington County Attorney's Office independently drug tested the woman, and she tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the affidavit. Investigators then contacted Wright asking for a progress report on the woman.

"Sid reported that she tested negative for drugs," investigators wrote.

The woman admitted that after she "realized that Sid wasn’t going to regularly drug test her, she was using illegal drugs while on probation. (She) also reported that she knows of other probationers (on probation with Wright) that are using illegal drugs, because Sid is not drug testing them either," the warrant states.

"(She) told me that those individuals like being on probation with Sid because they’re still able to use illegal drugs with little or no consequences."

The Washington County Attorney's Office continued to privately drug test the woman throughout March, and she tested positive for various drugs each time, according to the affidavit.

But during a court hearing on March 30 to update the woman's progress, Wright "told the judge that he has tested (the woman) several times for drugs and she has always tested clean," the warrant states.

Investigators say Wright was previously involved in a similar incident.

In 2015, a woman failed to show up for a scheduled court hearing to verify she was staying clean. Her mother later found her using heroin. But Wright still told a judge that day that the woman was "in compliance with her probation conditions," according to the affidavit. The mother later filed a complaint with the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing.

"DOPL took administrative action against (Wright); however they did not revoke his business license," the warrant states.

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Pat Reavy

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