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Kalamazoo man sentenced for falsifying records on breathalyzer maintenance

David John will serve 9 months in jail
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KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A contracted technician for Michigan State Police will spend 9 months behind bars after he was found guilty of filing false reports about certifying one breathalyzer multiple times.

David John was sentenced to 36 months probation, with the first 9 to be served at the Kalamazoo County Jail.

The 59-year-old was a technician with Intoximeters, Inc, a company contracted by State Police to maintain the 203 DataMaster DMTs, known as breathalyzers, across the state. Those technicians are required to physically visit each department that has a breathalyzer to run diagnostics, calibrations, and make any needed repairs.

However, on November 14, 2019, John created a certification using a spare DataMaster at his home in Kalamazoo. He then submitted that certification for the lone breathalyzer at the Alpena County Sheriff's Office.

On December 23 and 27 of 2019, he used the same certification again to submit reports on Alpena County's breathalyzer.

In January 2020, State Police halted the use of the DataMaster DMTs when discrepancies in the diagnostic reports were discovered.

John and another technician, Andrew Clark, were charged in May on counts of forging public records. Charges against Clark were dismissed in Eaton County earlier this month.