Las Vegas man ordered to prison for taking drug-test bribes
A Las Vegas man prosecutors said used his job at a drug testing facility to take bribes from people on federal probation was ordered to serve nearly five years in prison on Monday.
Billy Joe West, 57, pleaded guilty in June to one count of prevention of communication of supervised release and probation violation, according to court records.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey ordered West to serve four years and nine months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
“The defendant’s breach of the public’s trust subverted the recovery and rehabilitation of many individuals undergoing court-ordered substance abuse treatment,” Nevada U.S. Attorney Nicholas Trutanich said in a news release. “This reinforces why employees of federal contractors must put the public interest over their self interests.”
West, who worked at WestCare Nevada Inc., a federal contractor that conducted court-ordered urine drug testing, accepted bribes to report more than 100 false negative drug tests to the U.S. Probation Office between June 2018 and March, according to court documents.
Defense attorney David Fischer wrote in court papers that West was abused as a child and struggled with drug addiction. Fischer asked the judge to sentence West to 46 months behind bars.
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