Thursday, April 24, 2014

COURT TESTER

Why did Ryan Gubbins throw his business (and maybe his freedom) away?


A couple of years ago, Ryan Matthew Gubbins saw a chance to start his own business.
He worked for a company that ran drug and alcohol tests through the 86th District Court. He learned the business. Later he learned the company was about to be dropped by the court.
Gubbins had served on an advisory committee for Sobriety Court and had developed relationships with the staff and judges. He saw an opportunity.
Gubbins started Tri-County Monitoring in May, 2011, and soon he owned one of the places where district court defendants and misdemeanor probationers could go if they were ordered by a judge to have alcohol breath tests or drug screens.
Defendants are often ordered by judges to have once or twice daily PBTs to ensure they are following the rules and staying sober. Typically, the breath tests cost $3 each; the drug screens cost $15.
Gubbins’ business was one with a steady, ever-renewing and involuntary customer base.
Last winter, however, one of the clients at Tri-County stopped coming in to blow PBTs and Tri-County failed to alert the woman’s probation officer.


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