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LaFrance, 25, came to Florida several years ago for treatment, according to her mother. LaFrance pleaded guilty to four counts of patient brokering and one count of attempted patient brokering. She was sentenced to 18 months of probation and must cooperate with investigators.
Meanwhile, they continued to get high as their insurance agencies were billed for services never rendered. Simeone, 46, a former Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy who left to open Epiphany Treatment Center in West Palm Beach, paid referral fees to sober home operators for each insured addict they enrolled in Epiphany. Vandervert also aided investigators in the case against Steve Johnson.
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Iskander, an employee who works for Integrity House, a sober home in Lake Worth, was arrested on six counts of patient brokering. According to the police affidavit, documents found during an October raid on Whole Life Recovery showed he received more than $2,000 between April and June. In the last 24 hours, 5 people have been arrested by the Palm Beach County Sober Home Task Force. State Attorney Dave Aronberg made a major announcement in the state's efforts to target substance abuse treatment facilities operating illegally. Court records show some of these providers ordered multiple urine tests each week for these patients and then billed their insurance companies for thousands of dollars in reimbursement payments. The providers then kicked back some of that reimbursement money to whoever made the referral, according to the records.
Some addicts won’t get another chance after their first chance is hampered by fake recovery houses and fraud. The state of Florida has allocated money to crack down on fraudulent and illegal treatment practices. Patient brokering has become so common that Palm Beach County created and funded a multi-agency Sober Homes Task Force, designed to target and cut down on illegal business practices in the recovery industry. ARCADIA, Fla. — Arcadia police have arrested a man in connection to a homicide from Wednesday afternoon.
UPDATE: Sober home task force arrests six; total now tops 40
Sean Patrick O’Hara, 36, of Delray Beach was arrested on five counts of patient brokering for referring residents from his sober home, Life Rewritten LLC, to treatment centers owned byJames Tomasso. Tursi, 30, of Boca Raton, pleaded guilty to six counts of aiding patient brokering on April 17 for accepting kickbacks for referring insured addicts from his sober home, Fellowship House, to Whole Life Recovery. Kigar signed many of the checks, according to court records. Tursi must serve two years of probation and pay a $15,000 fine.
Palm Beach County law officials have been cracking down on operators of homes for people in recovery from substance abuse. The Palm Beach County Sober Homes Task Force is made up of multiple agencies as well as prosecutors. Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Arenberg taking a stand for the countless lives lost to corrupt sober homes and treatment facilities. Late Tuesday, the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office announced the formation of a new task force to investigate sober homes fraud. James Durkin was charged with 13 counts of forgery while his wife, Jaclyn Sue Durkin, was charged with two counts of forgery.
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Just before Thanksgiving last week, authorities in Palm Beach County, Florida made arrests of two more sober home managers. Accused of participating in a scheme of patient brokering, the arrests are just a few in a string of alleged patient brokering schemes that have become almost commonplace across the state. Dave, 39, owner of The Wellness Center in West Palm Beach, required addicts living in his sober homes to enroll in his treatment program and also paid their rent and gave them cigarettes and gift cards, according to court records.
Arrested Jan. 4 on 11 counts of aiding and attempting to aid patient brokering for enrolling residents living in his sober home, House of Chance, in Boynton Beach, in programs at Whole Life Recovery. When law enforcement task forces engage in crackdowns like this, the people arrested often have different levels of culpability, and sometimes none at all. That’s why it’s essential to seek experienced legal guidance to protect yourself and present your own defense in order to separate yourself from others with whom you may have been in business. Also arrested Thursday, Bradley Vercosa, 50, of Wellington, faces 50 counts of patient brokering. The owners of Chapters —Daniel Kandler,David Remland and Mark Desimone — and the admissions director,Sarah Muhammad, were arrested earlier this year on multiple counts of patient brokering.
WPBF 25 West Palm Beach
It’s illegal for health care providers to receive money for patient referrals. Michael Martin, 35, of Boca Raton, was arrested on 24 counts of patient brokering for referring residents from his sober home, Fresh Beginnings, to Tomasso’s treatment centers. Kandler is also the owner of Impact Q Testing, a laboratory next to Chapters in Delray Beach.

Tomosso’s arrest is just one in a series of crackdowns by the Sober Home Task Force and other law enforcement in Florida. Several sober homeowners who were charged with patient brokering are now going to trial in Palm Beach County. The county's Sober Home Task Force began looking into Pure Thoughts in 2017 after receiving a complaint that its managers allowed drug use at their sober homes and gave free rent to some patients. Former employees and clients said select patients even received treatment or bonuses, such as gym memberships and free Uber rides, based on how much their insurance policies paid.
Arrested June 15 on 35 counts of aiding patient brokering and one count of patient brokering. Both face 22 counts of patient brokering and aiding patient brokering. Arrested Dec. 13 on four counts of aiding patient brokering. Arrested Nov. 17 and Feb. 26 on 39 counts of aiding patient brokering.
Prosecutors are not pursuing the four counts of aiding patient brokering. Both arrested Feb. 26 on 34 counts of aiding patient brokering. Prosecutors are pursing 12 counts against Eric 29, and one count against 26-year-old Adam. Hargrove, 41, of West Palm Beach, owner of True Sober Living on Kirk Road, allegedly accepted 11 payments for referring clients to Whole Life Recovery. Weathersbee, 37, of Lake Worth, signed attendance forms used by Whole Life to determine the referral fees paid to True Sober Living, according to court records.
“The largest kickback scheme involving labs that our task force has uncovered both in the number of defendants and in the amount billed,” Aronberg said. The first arrests resulting from the task force’s work took place at last month in a Boynton Beach recovery center. Information gained from those arrests led to the arrest this month of two other sober home owners in Delray Beach onpatient brokeringcharges, which is a felony. The recovery center said that the money they paid to the sober home was for food stamps and bus passes for their residents. Arrested May 11 on nine counts of aiding patient brokering for accepting kickbacks from Tomasso for enrolling clients in Tomasso’s treatment centers, according to police reports.