An employee of a company that provides services for Miami-Dade Drug Court and a man who was attending the treatment program are facing charges after they allegedly manipulated the urine test process to give the court clean test results, prosecutors said.
An employee of a company that provides services for Miami-Dade Drug Court and a man who was attending the treatment program are facing charges after they allegedly manipulated the urine test process to give the court clean test results, prosecutors said.
Cedric Lee Pharr, 43, and Luis Maldonado, 42, are facing unlawful compensation charges, while Pharr is also charged with conspiracy to commit unlawful compensation, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office said.
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WATCH HEREThe investigation into the pair began in August after Maldonado appeared in court with his mother and girlfriend after a routine Drug Court urine test.
"We run a serious program and peoples' lives are in our hands. It's not just their lives but also the safety of the community. So take it very seriously," Judge Maria Verde-Yanez, who resides over Drug Court, told NBC6 on Tuesday.
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During the hearing Maldonado’s mother gave Verde-Yanez evidence that Pharr, then a 6-month employee of the company that provides services for Drug Court, was allegedly receiving payments from Maldonado for clean test results, authorities said.
"He was negative, his drug tests were negative. So we always ask mom or whatever family member is present, 'How is he doing? Is there anything you want to report?' And one of them reported he was using and he wasn’t actually clean and sober," Verde-Yanez said. "I immediately started to question him about what happened and it was discovered that in fact he was making CashApp payments to the person who was drug testing at the data program."
In 12 drug tests, Pharr allegedly certified that Maldonado was negative for all tested substances, despite Maldonado's mother saying Maldonado was still abusing drugs.
Investigators discovered CashApp payments made by Maldonado to Pharr totaling around $375 in small $20 or $30 amounts, prosecutors said.
Ten of the transactions occurred on the same day Maldonado was tested, and one occurred the day after a test.
Maldonado needed the negative drug test results to "graduate" from the program and have the criminal court loosen its jurisdiction, officials said.
The state attorney's office said Maldonado’s mother desperately wanted her son to stop using drugs, which he hadn't done.
"When I helped create Miami-Dade County’s Drug Court program, the first therapeutic court program in America, the goal was to help low-level drug offenders kick their drug habits, come back to their families, and successfully remerge into our community. The criminal court’s oversight has helped thousands beat addiction," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. "The alleged actions of Pharr and Maldonado deliberately undermined these goals, insulting our community’s goodwill and corrupting our criminal court processes just for a few measly dollars."
Verde-Yanez said she believes it was an isolated incident but said it's a strong lesson for families of people dealing with substance abuse.
"Say something, get involved, don’t be afraid," she said.
