Complaint Review: Intoxalock - Des Moines Iowa

I initially had the Intoxilock installed on July 7, 2017 by a court order for a DUI. Under South Dakota State Law, I am required to blow into the device twice a day between the hours of 5:30 and 8:00 AM and PM. State law requires a zero tolerance and in South Dakota that means .000. Anything over that is a probation violation.

I had no problems with the device until May 9, 2018. I quit drinking January 28, 2017 and have not consumed a drop of alcohol since. I had a different device installed on May 7, 2018 per recalibration requirements. I would say new device, but that unit was definitely USED. It was missing a pad on the back and the button would only start the machine after several presses. It was really slow to read and just generally seemed worn out. I seriously doubt it had been reworked or recalibrated at Intoxilock prior to sending it back out. In fact, a customer service agent at Intoxilock told me that they are ALL used and that they get them returned and just send them back out. This same agent told me that their machines don't give false positives because they detect all sources of alcohol. All sources of alcohol doesn't just mean beer, wine, and hard liquor. It means gases in the air including gasoline, perfume, and numerous other chemicals.

On May 9, 2018, I was working in my yard. I had filled my lawn mower with gas and it sloshed over on my hands. I had also had my my lawn chemically treated with weed killer and fertilizer that morning. It never occurred to me that I should wash my hands before it did my nightly PBT. That night I went into my garage where the odor of the chemicals was present and blew like I did every night at 5:30. I could not believe it when the Intoxalock registered .014. I was horrified beyond belief because in South Dakota that means you are convicted of a probation violation. The retest registered .013. I know that the feature of the Intoxalock that requires you to inhale back into the machine pulls in the surrounding air and whatever chemicals are on your hands or in the surrounding atmosphere. I was told by a customer service agent that if you can smell it in the air, it will show up on an Intolalock test. I can not believe that such a faultily designed and sienctifically inaccurrate machine is allowed to be used for zero tolerance law enforcement monitoring.

I called the Sherriff's Office and requested to come in for alcohol testing to prove that I had not consumed alcohol. I was denied and told it was too late. The violation had already been recorded. I also called Intoxalock and told them what had happened and requested a new machine. I was told that their machine didn't give me a false a positive, it just "picked up on some other source of alcohol." However, that did not stop them from charging me for a reset and a new machine plus shipping and handling. None of that mattered though as I was arrested the next morning and spent the next month in the county jail before I was even allowed to see a judge.

I am now attempting to fight this charge as I am facing more jail time. If anyone has any information about Intoxalock or any similar experiences that you are willing to share with me, it would help me to prove that this didn't 'just happen to me'. This company and this device should not be allowed to continue to market this device and sell it to unsuspecting customers who will be ripped off financially and potentially have their lives ruined. My email address is [email protected].