Fraud by DHR contracted lab cost them their children; it will cost her 15 years in jail

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Brandy Murrah, the owner of A & J Lab Collections, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for falsifying lab reports that caused parents to lose their children. Her lab provided drug-screen reports and paternity tests to the Dale County Department of Human Resources. The Dothan Eagle reported Murrah pled guilty in September and received 15 years on a felony charge of perjury and 12 months on each of 16 misdemeanor counts of forgery to run concurrently.

The perjury charge came out of a court hearing where Murrah testified about the drug test results on a father who was trying to retain custody of his children. The forgery charges stem from falsified reports that had never actually been processed and confirmed by the doctor listed.

Murrah, who lives in Clopton, stated, “I know I did wrong. I’ve done a lot of things wrong in my life… I’m sorry for anyone I ever hurt. I really did not do this intentionally to ever hurt anyone.”

However, those parents affected by these false reports feel differently. Jennifer Severs of Troy lost her children after collected hair follicle samples from Murrah’s lab showed Severs was positive for drugs. The test was a part of a custody hearing. Even though additional tests were negative, it took months before she was finally reunited with her children because the Department of Human Resources used the original test results. Severs called one of the doctors listed on Murrah’s report and learned the doctor had never ordered the test. She then contacted the police.

“This is a daily battle for me on who I can trust,” Severs said. “This is a daily battle for my children.” 

Another parent, Grace Locke of Newton, was working on getting her children returned to her in 2019 after losing custody in 2017. She had completed drug rehabilitation and wanted to be reunited with her two older children after giving birth to her third child. She met with her caseworker in Dale County and was told her latest drug test came back positive and that the baby tested positive too. Her 3-month-old baby was taken from her immediately. She tested again and got negative results, but it took three weeks to be reunited with her baby. 

“It was terrible,” Locke told the court. “I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest because I knew I was doing right with this one. I knew I was doing right.”

Murrah’s lawyer, David Harrison, argued that she shouldn’t be incarcerated, asking the court instead to sentence his client to a community corrections program or probation. “If she’s incarcerated, who does it help?” Harrison asked the judge. “At the end of the day, I understand this woman affected peoples’ lives, but she has pled guilty, and it is a slap in the face to justice not to give her probation.”

District Attorney Kirke Adams said Murrah should go to prison for the pain and suffering she caused. It is unknown the exact number of labs were falsified. 

“She has committed a fraud upon the whole court system,” he said. “The worst part is for those who suffered because no one believed them—and she did not care.”