JOEY DAUBEN
The Ellis County Press
WAXAHACHIE – A county jail
inmate who says he’s innocent of failing a drug test and said others are in the
same situation can’t obtain the adult probation department’s proof.
Scott
Lohman, incarcerated in downtown Waxahachie for a string of alleged drug and
robbery infractions, said while on probation, the county claimed he failed a
hair follicle test, of which officials in the department have denied to both
Lohman’s lawyer and The Ellis County
Press.
In a
multi-page letter to this newspaper sent last week, the adult probation
department requested an opinion from state Attorney General Greg Abbott on the
specifics of releasing the results of the drug test.
Alfred
Mims, a former Waxahachie school board member and the department’s director,
referred all requests for comment to the county/district attorney’s office.
Law
enforcement authorities allege Lohman and several other inmates of
participating in numerous drug and property crimes throughout the county, but
the inmates – who signed a sheet of paper with full names and phone numbers
willing to go forward – said the positive drug tests the county alleges they
come back with aren’t released to them.
Despite
court records not being privy to open records laws, positive drug test results
can spur probation revocations and sometimes, prison or jail terms.
Lohman’s
lawyer, Waxahachie attorney Vance Hinds, refused to talk with this reporter,
but through Lohman’s girlfriend, Hinds reportedly can’t obtain the drug test
results.
A
typical AG opinion ruling is likely to take three to six months, which Lohman
said (via correspondence with this reporter via letter) could be too late.
Lohman
said he has other inmates and residents of the Kevin’s House Half-Way house
near Ennis that are willing to talk about their difficulties in obtaining the
drug-test information.
Routine
drug tests are given to the adult and juvenile probation population. Lohman
said his legal team went to an outside drug testing lab and the hair follicle
test proved negative; however, Lohman said, the county wouldn’t accept the
results on an allegation Lohman was tested after a date in which his drugs
would have cleared his system.
Full disclosure: Lohman’s probation officer,
William Riley (though declining to comment for this story), is this reporter’s
pastor.
