TUCSON, AZ – According to an article published by the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson defense attorney Jim Nesci was sitting at his desk Wednesday morning when his secretary burst into a fit of laughter.Wondering what had struck her funny bone, Nesci asked his secretary what was so funny. She replied that when she called a toll-free telephone number provided by the state to arrange installation of an ignition interlock system into the car of one of Nesci’s clients, the voice message at the number prompted her to call another number for “all of the X-rated talk she could handle, for just 69 cents a minute.”
Nesci told the Daily Star that when he tried a number provided by the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division, he encountered the same recording, instead of reaching Alcohol Detection Systems Inc., one of the companies authorized to install ignition interlock systems designed to keep people from driving under the influence of alcohol.
According to Arizona MVD spokeswoman Cydney DeModica, a simple typographical error in the one of the MVD’s databases led to the mix-up. Someone entered 1-800 as the prefix for Alcohol Detection Systems Inc. into the database, instead of the correct 1-888.
As a result, an unknown number of letters went out to people convicted of driving under the influence directing them to call the sex-talk line. DeModica said the problem has now been fixed “for real” and anyone checking the MVD’s website will find the correct number
The problem has existed since approximately October and officials thought they had corrected the error in all their databases, according to DeModica.
“We certainly regret the error that was in place,” DeModica said.
