At this week’s Washoe Board of County Commissioners, one of them, Mike Clark (on right of photo), spoke out in disbelief about a damning internal audit of the county’s Department of Alternative Sentencing, reported about by several media outlets this week, amid an investigation by the U.S. Secret Service.
“Who allowed this to get to this level? This is an embarrassment … We’ve all got egg on our faces up here,” Clark said. “We make mistakes in government,” chair Alexis Hill (in center under county seal) responded. “There can be corruption issues in local government.”
The department’s former director, who at the same time owned and operated the for profit Sober Testing Services, Justin Roper, resigned from that position in March after being placed under federal investigation.
Roper still lists himself on LinkedIn as the owner of the Las Vegas based company as well as the chief of the Washoe County Department of Alternative Sentencing, even though he tendered his resignation months ago.
The offices of the Department of Alternative Sentencing at 1530 E. Sixth Street were closed for two days in early March as was its Sober24 program as law enforcement had search warrants.
In recent years, this initially touted department has received millions in state and federal grants to provide local drug and alcohol testing services. It is now under the microscope of media, law enforcement and county leadership.
“DAS was designed to provide supervision to people whose sentences have been suspended and during Pre-Trial criminal proceedings. Depending on the type of supervision you are required to complete, you may have conditions that are set by the court such as drug test, attend counseling, House arrest and/ or get an evaluation, etc...” the county indicates on its website.
The audit is reported to indicate officers took home county-owned vehicles, while some wrote traffic tickets even though they weren’t authorized to do so, some entered invoices with incorrect fiscal years, and others didn’t fill out time cards correctly, using their commute times as part of work hours. Overall inconsistencies were noted for the pricing of their services and for going over budget in consecutive years, as well lack of controls for inventory, including ammunition, and employees.
In terms of the Sober24 program, which is a county program for Crossroads residents, to ensure that residents there remain sober, the audit indicates there were many problems in how it was run and managed, also leading to concerns for the people it was supposed to help.
Our Town Reporting, July 2025