Man who sold urine sent to prison

Kenneth Curtis outside the Greenville County Courthouse Friday morning. Staff/Owen Riley Jr. e-mail this story Related Previous coverage • Urine vendor gets day in state Supreme Court

It brings an end to a six-year battle over Curtis' urine selling business.

Curtis maintains he sold the product because he felt random urine testing by companies was an invasion of privacy. The state contends he sold it to help people defraud drug tests.

Curtis was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2001, suspended to six months, after an undercover officer purchased one of his kits containing urine, a heating pack and tubing. Curtis had been out on $30,000 cash bond as he appealed the decision.

He argued his conviction should be overturned because the charges were vague, the law constitutes an unwarranted invasion of privacy and there was insufficient evidence he intended to defraud a test with the kits.

The South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the conviction in January saying no legal standing to argue the privacy rights of anyone other than himself. They also found no vagueness in the Legislature's wording.

Curtis' case drew national attention and led to a run for lieutenant governor in 2002 against state Sen. David Thomas, who wrote the bill banning the distribution of urine to defraud a drug test in South Carolina.

As he entered Greenville County Courthouse Friday, Curtis gave one of his kits to a Greenville County sheriff's deputy working security.

Assistant Solicitor Mindy Hervey said it will be have to be investigated whether or not he broke the law.

His attorneys, C. Rauch Wise and Robbie Childs, asked that he be given a few more days at home before being sent to a state prison. Circuit Judge John Few, who sentenced Curtis in 2001, watched the proceedings from a jury box.

Judge Charles Simmons, who was presiding Friday, said Curtis would start his sentence immediately and be sent to Greenville County Detention Center to await placement in a state-run facility.

"The fat lady has sung," Simmons said. "The game is over."

John Boyanoski can be reached at 298-4065.