An offender, guilty of too many outstanding traffic tickets, gets to keep his job. Another gets to attend drug treatment. Both got the help of Lehi resident Shane Tea.

A 44-year-old retired adult probation and parole officer, Tea provides an option for local and county offenders on probation, giving them choices at a crossroads in their life with his two-year-old business, aptly named Crossroads Court Services.

His clients vary, but for those under house-arrest or home confinement, he has a GPS monitoring device to attach to their ankle. He also provides monthly face-to-face office contact, treatment coordination, community service tracking and several other administrative tasks associated with probation. Tea said that after 20 years of working with the state of Utah it's what he knows how to do best.

"I enjoy it," he said. "It is an opportunity to help people. Not everybody is a career criminal, they just made some really dumb decisions, and we help direct them how to get through the items of probation."

He receives clients referred from such agencies as Provo's 4th District Court and Utah County, Lehi, Pleasant Grove, Saratoga Springs, Heber City and Wasatch County justice courts, as well as referred cases out of Salt Lake, Iron and Washington counties. Lehi City Justice Court Judge Garry Sampson said Tea's service saves money not only for his clients (the offenders) but for the courts, too.

"The thing that is nice about Crossroads is, they have follow-through with everything from treatment to fees, and it frees up the court personnel and we don't have to track them," Sampson said. "He's got a lot of experience, and it takes a load off of me."

Those who are charged with a class B misdemeanor are charged $40 for each day they serve in jail. Under house confinement, they pay a business like Tea's about $10 a day for a GPS monitoring service. Other services have varying costs attached to them.

For some offenders, Tea's service means the difference between potential disaster and maintaining stability in their home while serving a court sentence.

One of his clients, Mark [name changed], lived in California, so when he got a traffic ticket for speeding in Utah on two separate occasions, he thought nothing of it. Then he moved to Utah. His third ticket for no car insurance on a newly acquired vehicle landed him in court.

He said going to jail had its appeal, but he would lose the three jobs he works to make ends meet as a construction worker, a graveyard shift employee and a basketball referee. "If I didn't go to work for five days, I'd get laid off from all three of my jobs," Mark said about the alternative five-day jail sentence.

With Crossroads and a GPS monitoring device around his ankle, Mark can keep his jobs and care for his family of six.

Each client under house-arrest can travel to get the mail outside their home, about 50 feet, and step out on their back porch. They are allowed to travel to work and back as well as get permission to attend certain events, like going to court-ordered drug treatment.

"I'll be spending more time around the house. I'm sure my wife will have more jobs for me," Mark said.

Home confinement is usually a first-time experience for offenders. When they test the boundaries of the ankle monitor, they find out quickly how well they work.

"He will know when he gets a call from me," Tea said. "These are dead accurate, up to a foot."

Tea has a main office for his business in Orem and two satellite offices, one in Heber and the other in Lehi. It's not often a probation officer sees positive results come out of his work, Tea said, but several years ago he met a waiter at a restaurant who gave him a memorable experience.

"He said to me, 'I just want you to know that I'm doing really well and some people do change,' " said Tea, who has seen hundreds of clients come through the state probation system.

"I don't remember the offense, but it's great. You feel good when there are success stories because in law enforcement you don't see a lot of success," Tea said.

Most of the cases Tea sees are people found guilty of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, domestic violence, or in some cases possessing small amounts of marijuana.

The usual confinement is a three- to five-day sentence, although Tea has had some clients as long as six months.

"Most people, it doesn't even phase them because they go to work and go home," Tea said. "It just boils down to another alternative, a tool for the judge."

• Cathy Allred can be reached at heraldextra@digis.net.

Discuss this story in our readers forum

Dis

Related

• Technology to block phone use in cars isn't foolproof
• Small GPS devices help prosecutors win convictions
• Some states track abusers, stalkers by GPS
• ALA competes at Cedar City Shakespeare meet
• Saratoga Springs approves new court