Baton Rouge men arrested in Rapides Parish fake pee bust

RAPIDES PARISH - A traffic stop on I-49 in Rapides Parish led to the rest of a pair of Baton Rouge men accused of possessing fake pee, according to sheriff’s deputies.

39-year-old Bassam Nafel and 59-year-old Fernando Olivas were each booked with 200 counts of possession of synthetic urine and 40 counts of drug paraphernalia.

Sheriff’s deputies made the traffic stop after they reported seeing a panel van making lane changes without properly signaling. Neither Nafel or Olivas had a valid driver’s license, and officers said they were both acting “very agitated.”

After deputies received consent to search the van, they found a curtained-off compartment that contained several boxes of Kleen Pee, X Stream, Fetish Pouches and glass pipes commonly used for smoking narcotics. Fetish Pouch is a brand name for a device that people trying to beat drug tests conceal around their waists in order to carry fake urine into a restroom for collection. The kit even includes heating pads that are used to bring the fake pee up to body temperature in order to further fool the tests.

It’s against the law to possess synthetic urine in Louisiana. Deputies are now trying to determine where the contraband was headed for distribution.

“These suspects were bringing items into Central Louisiana to actively aid people in the avoidance of a urine screen and that is a problem employers see everyday” said Sheriff William Earl Hilton. “Just this morning, I spoke at the DARE Conference here in town and told those DARE officers from all over the state that their job is more important now than ever, to teach our children drug resistance is the answer. If you don’t do drugs, you don’t need synthetic urine to mislead employers. Safety in the workplace is so important. Our deputies and a lot of employees in Central Louisiana have to submit to random drug testing every day.”