Jury convicts man accused of falsifying records in alcohol testing device calibrations

David Panian, The Daily Telegram
·2 min read

CHARLOTTE — One of the men charged with creating fictitious documents while contracted to service law enforcement alcohol testing instruments faces prison after being convicted by a jury Thursday.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in 2020 filed charges against Andrew Clark and David John for falsifying service records related to certain diagnostic tests and repairs on DataMaster DMTs. A four-month investigation led by the Attorney General’s Public Integrity Unit (PIU) and the Michigan State Police (MSP) led to the criminal cases.

John pleaded guilty to all nine charges he faced and was sentenced to 36 months’ probation, with the first nine months served in the Kalamazoo County Jail, Nessel's office said in a news release.

Clark opted for trial, which began Monday in Eaton County Circuit Court. After spending four hours deliberating, a jury convicted Clark late Thursday afternoon on all counts, the release said.

The charges against Clark are:

  • Two counts, forgery of a public record, a 14-year felony.

  • Two counts, uttering and publishing, a 14-year felony.

  • Two counts, use of a computer to commit a crime, a 10-year felony.

Clark worked for Intoximeters, a St. Louis company that had a state contract to service the machines. He was accused of creating false documents to show he completed tests and repairs on DataMasters at two police agencies.

The charges against him were dismissed by an Eaton County district judge in December 2020 but were reinstated by an Eaton County circuit judge in May 2021.

The instrument, DataMaster DMT (DataMaster Transportable), is more commonly referred to as a breathalyzer and is used to measure alcohol levels at county jails or police departments after a motorist is arrested. In 2020, all 203 machines were taken out of service until state police could verify that each was properly calibrated.

The investigation briefly took the DataMaster at the Tecumseh Police Department out of service in January 2020 so its calibration could be checked by state police. The Lenawee County Prosecutor’s Office dismissed drunken-driving charges against 12 people whose cases involved tests done with the Tecumseh DataMaster. Prosecutor Burke Castleberry said at the time his office and the Tecumseh Police Department and Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office, which made the arrests in those cases, had no way of knowing if the test results were accurate.

All but one of the local cases had been adjudicated when state police told the Lenawee County Prosecutor's Office they were among 52 statewide that state police flagged as it investigated the potential fraud.

“The crimes perpetrated in this case compromised the public's faith and confidence in the criminal justice system,” Nessel said in the news release. “I extend my appreciation to the jury and I remain grateful for the work of our PIU in coordination with MSP that brought this case to court.”

Sentencing is scheduled for June 23.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Jury convicts man in blood alcohol testing device case