Co-Owners of "The Whizzinator" Sentenced for Conspiring to Defeat Federal Drug Tests

April 9, 2010 - United States Attorney Robert S. Cessar announced today, April 8, 2010, that the owners of a California company that sold products to help people cheat on drug tests were sentenced today in federal court in Pittsburgh on their convictions for conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with its duty to drug test employees and to conspiracy to sell drug paraphernalia.

Gerald Wills, a resident of San Pedro, California, was sentenced to six months in prison followed by three years supervised release. Robert Dennis Catalano, a resident of Huntington Beach, California, received a sentence of three years' probation. Puck Technology, Inc, a corporation of Signal Hill, California, received a sentence of forfeiture of all its assets and dissolution.

United States District Judge David Cercone imposed the sentences on Gerald W. Wills, age 67, of San Pedro, California; Robert Dennis Catalano, age 65, of Huntington Beach, California; and Puck Technology, Inc., a national Internet business located in Signal Hill, California.

According to Mr. Cessar, "Puck Technology and its owners, Wills and Catalano, sold masking agents or devices designed to help illicit drug users, usually those in public health or safety sensitive positions, pass employer drug tests. Their products were used to impair and impede the lawful governmental functions of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an agency of the United States, in overseeing and establishing federal workplace drug testing programs."

In connection with the sentencing, Assistant United States Attorney Mary M. Houghton advised the court that Wills was an owner, shareholder and the President, of Puck Technology, Inc., and Catalano was an owner, shareholder and the Vice President of Puck Technology, Inc. From October 10, 2005 through May 7, 2008, Wills and Catalano, using Puck Technology, conspired to defraud the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services by defeating and obstructing the lawful governmental functions of SAMHSA in overseeing, monitoring, and establishing scientific and technical guidelines for federal workplace drug testing programs, and standards for certification of laboratories engaged in urine drug testing for federal agencies and federally regulated industries, under the Federal Agency Drug-Free Work Place Program. Hundreds of thousands of forensic workplace urine tests are done under the Federal Agency Drug-Free Work Place Program for federal employees each year and millions of federal and federally regulated urine specimens are tested each year in SAMHSA-certified labs. These tests include tests of federal employees in national security and public safety positions.

During the period from October 10, 2005 through May 7, 2008, Wills and Catalano, using Puck Technology, sold over the Internet sites, www.whizzinator.com and www.gonumber1.com, the product, the Whizzinator, a male prosthetic urinating device, and the product, Number 1, a urinating device made for both men and women, to customers throughout the United States and in the Western District of Pennsylvania, for the purpose of defeating federal, and federally regulated, employment drug urine tests overseen by SAMHSA for marijuana, cocaine, and other controlled substances under Title 21 of the United States Code. The defendants and Puck Technology also sold on these websites synthetic urine to be used in these products, and to be passed off as a customer's real urine at the time of the administration of a drug test, including those drug tests overseen by SAMHSA and conducted under federal law.

Mr. Cessar commended the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Wills, Catalano, and Puck Technology, Inc.