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Tag: sober home industry

  • Woman Pleads Guilty To Killing Sober Home Roommate

    Woman Pleads Guilty To Killing Sober Home Roommate

    The convicted woman believed that her roommate had told on her for being drunk during her sober home stay.

    A Minnesota woman pled guilty to drunkenly murdering her roommate at a sober living facility, because she thought the woman had reported her for being drunk and she would get kicked out of the facility. 

    Donna M. Bastyr, 47, killed Corrine L. Gibbs, 69, in May 2018, according to The Star Tribune. Early reporting by the paper said that Gibbs was found dead at about 8 p.m. by the women’s third roommate. She had been severely beaten and had an electrical chord tied around her neck. She had broken ribs, and a dumbbell and bowl nearby were covered with blood. 

    Police spoke to a man who Bastyr had been out with the day of the murder. The man said that she was “extremely intoxicated,” and that Bastyr had said that Gibbs “was ‘going to get hers.’ ” The man said that when he was with Bastyr later that day, she admitted to the murder.

    The man disclosed that Bastyr said Gibbs “had reported [her] for drinking at the sober house and … believed she was going to get kicked out of the program,” police documents said. 

    On Sept. 11, Bastyr will be sentenced for the murder. She is facing 23 to 32½ years in prison, but because of time she has already served she will likely be in prison for 14 to 21 years, the paper reported. 

    Unregulated Industry

    Gibbs’ death highlights the dangers of the sober home industry, which is almost entirely unregulated. Recently, bones were found at a sober home in Massachusetts. They were later identified as belonging to Clifford Bates, a resident at the home who had gone missing the year before. Bate’s family said that it was unacceptable that the home hadn’t conducted a more thorough search for him. 

    “While we accept his death, we never, ever thought he would be found at Lakeshore [the sober living home], 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.” 

    Brian Palmucci, a city councilor in Quincy, Massachusetts, who has advocated for better oversight of sober homes in the state, said that the industry needs more oversight so that people trying to get sober are not put in dangerous situations. 

    “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.”

    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