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Tag: sober home fraud

  • Florida Sober Home Operators Indicted For Health Care Fraud

    Florida Sober Home Operators Indicted For Health Care Fraud

    The three sober home operators named in the indictment allegedly collected $13 million from the scheme.

    A sober home in Miami was the site of health care fraud, according to a Department of Justice indictment. The three people named in the indictment allegedly ran a facility that put profit over recovery, collecting $13 million from the scheme.

    According to the Miami Herald, Safe Haven Recovery Inc. was involved in fraudulent activity between July 2014 and July 2019, in the guise of a substance abuse treatment facility. However, Safe Haven failed to provide a substance-free environment.

    Patient Brokering & Kickbacks

    Under the alleged direction of Peter Port, president of Safe Haven, and Brian Dublynn, his second in command, the facility would pay people to come to Safe Haven so they could bill private health insurance companies for substance use disorder treatment services that were either not performed or were not necessary, according to the Herald.

    The third individual named in the indictment, Jennifer Sanford, was a marketer for Safe Haven who recruited people to come to the facility.

    The defendants caused not only Safe Haven to submit false and fraudulent claims to health insurance plans, but several clinical laboratories as well, for treatment services and laboratory tests that were not provided or necessary.

    The three defendants were arrested on September 13 and posted bond by September 23.

    Safe Haven Defendants Were Among Dozens Charged In Massive Investigation

    Each defendant was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud and four counts of health care fraud. Port and Dublynn were also each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and five counts of money laundering. If convicted, they could each face at least 20 years in prison, according to the Herald.

    They were among dozens of people charged in a federal investigation of health care fraud throughout Florida and Georgia that resulted in more than $160 million in fraudulent billings.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Bones Found At Massachusetts Sober Home Highlight Troubled Industry 

    Bones Found At Massachusetts Sober Home Highlight Troubled Industry 

    The body belonged to a resident who had went missing from the sober home in April 2018.

    On June 17, landscapers working at a Massachusetts building that had been operating as a sober home until recently made a startling discovery: bones that were ultimately identified as the body of a client at the home who had gone missing more than a year before. 

    The body belonged to Clifford Bates, who had gone missing from the Wakefield, Massachusetts sober home on the morning of April 28, 2018, according to The Boston Globe.

    When Bates failed to make morning meeting, his roommate urged the sober home operators to look for him, but they did only a cursory search, driving around the neighborhood before putting Bates’ belongings in the basement. Bates’ family eventually filed a missing persons report with the police, but there was no sign of him until the bones were found. 

    There have been few details released about Bates’ disappearance since the bones were recovered, because the investigation is ongoing. However, many people feel that the grim story is an indication of the troubles in the sober home industry. 

    “While we accept his death, we never, ever thought he would be found at Lakeshore, a fenced-in property of less than half an acre!!” Bates’ family said in a statement. “That part makes no sense. It makes us ill, angry, and we can’t shake it from our minds.”

    Lakeshore Under Scrutiny

    Lakeshore, the facility that Bates was staying at, was already under scrutiny for overcharging, overcrowding, and urging clients to drop their psychiatric medications and rely on a higher power for healing. That approach led one former client to become suicidal. 

    “I realize now, people really do have chemical imbalances. You can’t replace that with God,” she told the Globe. 

    Lakeshore’s founder, Daniel Cleggett Jr., had already been investigated by the state, under suspicions that he was brokering patients for Florida rehabs. Two patients he sent to Florida died, and another died of an overdose at a Massachusetts sober home that Cleggett operated. Still, laws prevented the state from more tightly regulating sober homes. 

    Legal Loopholes

    “It’s a legal loophole that costs lives,” said Brian Palmucci, city councilor in Quincy, Massachusetts, who has advocated for better oversight of sober homes. “We have these charlatans who are taking advantage of the opioid crisis to get rich.”

    Richard Winant, former president of Massachusetts Alliance for Sober Housing and a sober home operator, said that the money in the industry can tempt people to focus on profits, rather than people. 

    “People lose their way,” he said. “They start to see dollar signs.”

    View the original article at thefix.com