PSA Pilot heading to jail
 

The Associated Press: Pilot who sold drug-test-beating mix pleads guilty

Pilot who sold drug-test-beating mix pleads guilty
By JOE MANDAK (AP) – 11 hours ago
PITTSBURGH — A pilot for US Airways Express pleaded guilty to selling a powdered drink mix over the Internet to help drug users pass federal drug tests for truck drivers, pilots and train engineers and other safety-sensitive positions.
Stephen Sharp, 41, of Port Orange, Fla., was a pilot for PSA Airlines when he also ran the Web site www.yourintheclear.com from November 2006 through May 2008.
U.S. District Judge David Cercone granted Sharp permission Thursday to continue flying out of his base of Charlotte, N.C., until he returns to be sentenced Sept. 3, when he faces a maximum of five years in prison.
PSA Airlines removed the employee from duty and placed him on unpaid administrative leave as soon as they became aware of the court hearing, US Airways spokesman Andrew J. Christie Jr. said.
PSA flies under the US Airways Express banner and is wholly owned by US Airways, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary McKeen Houghton said.
Sharp didn't comment at his guilty plea, beyond answering the judge's questions with yes or no answers.
Prosecutors wouldn't say whether Sharp had used drugs, or his own product, which was advertised as "100 percent" effective in defeating drug testing standards developed by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. SAMSHA tests are used to screen pilots and others by the U.S. Department of Transportation, as well as employees of other federal agencies, including the FBI.
"You simply mix the powder with a large glass of cranberry juice 1-5 hours before your test and then just relax!" Sharp's Web site said.
Federal prosecutors said the product worked.
"There is public testimony by SAMSHA officials to Congress that these products are very effective," Houghton said.
Prosecutors refused to say how many customers Sharp had, or how many of them may have worked in government-regulated industries.
Sharp pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States because his product was specifically designed and marketed to defeat U.S. Department of Transportation drug tests.
Sharp's case is the latest brought by federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh against people who sold products specifically designed to defeat federal drug tests.
Earlier this month, two California men were sentenced after pleading guilty to selling a prosthetic male sex organ called the Whizzinator, that could be filled with synthetic urine.
SAMSHA officials have said the Whizzinator was developed because the agency became adept at finding masking agents — like Sharp's product — in urine samples, so those taking drug tests had to develop a way to smuggle in "clean" samples.
Acting U.S. Attorney Robert Cessar said similar products are still being targeted by federal investigators in Pittsburgh.
"Our office is continuing to investigate these products in our continued effort to enforce federal law and ensure public safety," Cessar said.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Poor guy was just looking for extra income to make up for his regional wage.

Great more good press for PSA.....
We are the next Pinnacle........

"Yourintheclear"?

What an idiot. Can we start having a mandatory grammar test for First Officers? Actually, throw in a paint-by-numbers test too for good measure.

Clearly not good, but shouldn't it say something that there exist products that allow drug users to pass federal drug test? I'm gonna go ahead and say that's bad....
Though maybe not this guys fault, make a better drug test then.

In the future, if you want to sell and market these products, you're going to have to talk in code and use word of mouth to get a client base. The fact that he sold this crap isn't illegal, but apparently marketing it the way he did was illegal. It really seems like a stretch to me, but I guess his lawyer didn't think they could beat the charges. I guess my extreme hatred of the government makes me side with the pilot in this case.

jee thanks timothy mcveigh.

Maybe URINEtheClear was taken.

Helping pilots and other safety sensitive employees to do drugs is criminal in my book, he could be taken out and shot for all I care. My extreme hatred of stupidity makes me side with the government in this case...don't need no dopers on the cockpit.

We obviously need more effective tests. This case shows me how our drug testing is no different than our theatrical security screening. How many false positives are there? How many people who love drugs buy products like this? Sending this guy to jail doesn't change anything.

I guess my point is, isn't sending this guy to jail just treating the symptom? Shouldn't they instead do testing that can't be beat? I'd rather they do the hair test, then I wouldn't have to worry about holding it until I get to the place and I legitimately don't use drugs so pull out as much of my hair as you want.

Interestingly, I guess it's just the mark of our current government that we treat the symptoms but not the causes.....

Incorrect. I do not condone killing innocent people to make a point. I do, however, support civil disobedience and any non-violent attempts to dismantle the oversize government we have right now. Maybe that makes me a turrrrrist", I dunno. As for drug use, I say go for it but not if you're a pilot. I just think the government is abusing the law a bit in this case. I do not believe the end justifies the means. Besides, this guy is exposing a loophole and now the drug testing places can work on making a test that can't be beat by using this crap. Also, last time I had a random test, I did not have time to go grab myself a drink of this crap and then go ****. It was "hey, you have a random...come with me" and off I went to pee. Same goes for one of my captains when he had to go take a random breathalyzer once. He was taken as soon as he walked down the air stairs.

The interesting thing about this case is that Mr. Sharp will probably come out of prison a smarter criminal that he was when he went in. Somehow, I think sticking him in prison won't solve any problems. Maybe enlisting him and his knowledge to improve the current test would be more appropriate.

From a pilot on the PSA ALPA forum:

"...Steve deserves his day before the court and before the company. To believe all that is written by the press is foolish and naive. There is more to this story than what the press has made this out to be. Steve has had a website where he has been selling herbal remedies for all kinds of things including hair growth and breast enhancement. This particular powder was never sold as a way to defeat a government DOT drug test and the wording used in the add was not his but part of the manufactures marketing idea. SAMSHA is not who oversee our drug testing. The article is wrong. This powder is mixed with cranberry juice and takes 5 hours to work...which takes it out of the potential to be used by the transportation industry which requires random immediate drug testing. I think that there were many people that were surprised by the fact that it worked so well and this upset the government. (Just think if the breast enhancement herbs worked as well...he would be a rich man.) When the government went after him for trying to defraud a government agency he removed the product and cooperated with authorities spending thousands of dollars in his defense. I think he made a poor choice but I do not think he is a bad guy.
The company has known about this case for several years and now that he has plead guilty he will have to find out what will happen to his security status and employment future..."

I agree, this is all wrong... You can get a product that would do the same at GNC, or so I was told by one of their employees as I was inquiring about something else.

PSA always so quick to remove pilots from duty...

Another method
 

Let's not forget the

Whizzinator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not really. People in the transportation industry probably aren't going to use while on the job. How could you? But you could definitely smoke up, drink the juice, then go to work with a peaceful mind of not being caught.

I wonder if he kept a client list? There may be some people getting a poor sleep tonight.

If you know that you will be getting a **** test in the next 1-5 hours, yes.

Classic. From the same country that gave the world the airplane, the telephone and the light bulb.

rickair says "he could be taken out and shot for all I care"

Wow. Pretty sick.

Sounds like you've already tried and convicted the poor guy.

You should know better than to believe everything you read.

I smell a witch hunt

Well the guy did plead guily. But jeez.. really?? Now we shoot him??

Wait... The website name is "Yourintheclear" (sic)... Not "Growmyboobsbigger". I'm not buying for a second he didn't know what he was doing. The guilty plea doesn't help that argument either.

As for the guy who is for anything to make the government look bad, including backing a website selling products used to defeat drug tests for pilots, are you serious?? If so, please post the airline you work for. If it's a regional affiliated with my airline, I want to know. I don't want to DH on your plane.

Once again. Don't believe everything you read.

Steve's guilty plea was probably the better option.

Better than having a criminal case hanging over your head for years and being bankrupted by attorney fees.

Sometimes it is just better to cut your losses.

I have flown with Steve and I have heard his side of the story.

I say witch hunt.

So he was NOT selling a product to help people evade DOT drug testing? I don't see where you can read any kind of doubt into this, unless he simply didn't do it. Was he framed?

If he did this he needs the book thrown at him, hard. This isn't like tax evasion where he screwed up the paperwork but didn't really mean to...

If he has anything to do with illegal drugs, buying, selling, using, evading testing he has no place in aviation. This is not a hard concept.

Seen the body count in TJ last month? Anybody involved with drugs is guilty of those murders to one degree or another. I'm an eye-for-eye kind of guy.

So...........does this mean they'll be hiring??

Too soon :o

Now that is a ridiculous statement if I've ever heard one!

This guy didn't pull the trigger and kill people in Mexico. People in Mexico did. Would you seriously take this man's life for starting an illegitimate business? Think about that for a moment before you reply.

Does that mean we are all guilty of killing Iraqis because we are using middle eastern oil to fly the friendly skies and drive our Tahoes to the grocery store?

This is pure rhetoric. How is, say a domestic marijuana grower, at all connected to the violence in TJ?

Its just another absurd statement. Rickair is way off on this and should probably just stop now. As if I drink beer and am therefore responsible for deaths related to alcohol.

What drives me nuts is the guys who made a mistake and messed up a RTO lost their jobs but this wonderful guy is still flying last I heard.

I'm not for anyone using drugs and flying, and I certainly don't know that facts of this case.

That said, I really have a problem with the fact that I'm subject to drug testing and morons like Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of the idiots in congress aren't. You want me to pee in a jar, you'd better be wiling to yourself. I'll guaran-dang-tee they will comeback with a higher positive rate than airline pilots (and probably transportation workers as a whole).

Frankly, I applaud the guy for finding a way to stick it to the man...

Sorry that it's apparently going to cost him dearly.

Agreed, I think I throw up in my mouth a little bit every time I hear Nacy Pelosi speaking. They need drug testing more than any other profession out there.

No idea whether they're on drugs, sometimes you have to wonder but when they introduced the bill on listening to cockpit voice recorders to ensure our professionalism because we're tasked with the safety of 19-400 people at a time...... Right and politicians are responsible for the safety of what 300 million? Lets record and drug test them.

Oh stop being ridiculous. That's absurd. I understand what he meant - I am tired of the government having a say so in EVERYTHING that I do too. They need to back off. I'm pretty anti-government as well. It's gotten way too big, and they need to scale back, a ton. That's the point he was making. He's not going to kill people on the airplane, he's just tired of having everything, including how many times he farts a day, regulated.


Rick - come on. If people want to do drugs - let them do drugs. It's a free country (well... it used to be). I don't care if my next door neighbor smokes crack every day, as long as it doesn't effect me. It WOULD effect me if he was a pilot and smoking crack. Being able to do what you want to do doesn't mean you should. People still have a responsibility and pilots do not need to be doing drugs. Those that do are not guilty of anything else other than hurting themselves, people are responsible for their own lives.

To all you tool box goobers out there

Have a CINNABUN For more Regularity.

Pilots are not judges,

check your attitude indicator


People who sit in judgement of their fellow pilots, are just as much a danger to aviation as the drug users are, ESPECIALLY if they use alcohol in any manner what so ever.

Nice.........