Believe it or not, there may be a bigger travesty playing out in Alabama than its cruel new abortion law. How do you get worse than effectively banning all abortions and putting doctors at risk for life in prison? Quite easily, as it turns out. The owner of a lab test collection company in the Wiregrass region is facing charges of falsifying dozens of drug tests used for child custody cases.
Brandy Murrah, 36, of Clopton, was booked on the two misdemeanor forgery counts in Ozark this weekend. She is currently out on bond totaling $2,000.
Murrah owns A&J Lab Collections. Her company provided drug screen reports and paternity test results to the Dale County Department of Human Resources.
Dale County District Attorney Kirke Adams said the investigation is ongoing and could mean that parents were denied custody of their children in Dale County due to drug screen results that were falsified.
The real question is how this isn’t a felony. After all, this woman may have caused innocent people to lose custody of their kids. I really hope that Adams is just gathering enough evidence to rack her up for a felony.
The forgery first came to light when a woman from Pike County, near Montgomery, called his or her doctor with concerns about a positive drug test. It turned out that the doctor never signed the results of the test performed by Murrah’s company—and hadn’t signed for any tests done by Murrah since January. The investigation ramped up earlier this month, and Murrah was arrested this weekend.
Now here’s where this gets hideous. It turns out that Murrah might not have had any business working at a lab, let alone running it. Back in 2012, Murrah—then known as Brandy Williams—was arrested back in 2012 for credit card fraud. She pleaded guilty in 2013 and was sentenced to three years’ probation.
Alabama has some pretty outrageous loopholes in its laws. For instance, church daycares can operate with almost no oversight at the state level. But how in the world can a convicted fraudster be able to work at or run a lab? Sounds like this is a loophole that needs to be jackhammered shut, and fast.
In a colossal understatement, Adams called Murrah’s alleged crimes “callous and evil.” He believes virtually all of the tests with her fingerprints on them will have to be redone. By all rights, Murrah should get the bill for them—while she’s locked up for as long as legally possible.