Category Archives: 12 Step Rehab Rip Offs

Priest Becomes AA Member after Indictment of Child Pornography

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Ballwin priest sentenced to 3 years for child pornography

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rob Livergood said in court that in 2010 Ballwin police confiscated a computer and cellphone belonging to the Rev. William Vatterott, 37, that had been used to store and send explicit photos of a male minor. Investigators found 20 images of child pornography and emails of male genitalia.

Vatterott, dressed in a dark suit and white shirt — not in a priest’s collar — did not dispute any of the facts of Livergood’s narrative. AA Daytona member harasses locals.

 Vatterott was ordained in 2003. He was associate pastor at Holy Infant Church in Ballwin, then became pastor of St. Cecilia Parish, at 5418 Louisiana Avenue, in 2008.

In a statement, the archdiocese said Vatterott has been on administrative leave from St. Cecilia since June 2011, when officials there were told of “allegations involving inappropriate electronic communications received by a minor and an incident of underage drinking.”

“The Archdiocese has cooperated fully with federal authorities in this process,” the statement said. NA Daytona meetings in Sunrise Park refusing to pay rent.

A Holy Infant parishioner whose sons were friendly with Vatterott read a statement to the court in which she alleged actions that went beyond child pornography.

“Father Vatterott violated my sons and invaded my family with his perversions,” she said. “I am vindicated knowing we were right about this man. Priest or not, what he has done is wrong.”

Vatterott said in his own statement to the court that he was “truly sorry for what I’ve done,” and blamed his behavior on alcoholism.

“Forever in my life, I’ll be paying for these mistakes,” he said. “I’ll do everything I can to become holier, to become healthier.”

When U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber reminded Vatterott that “this was more about being a sex offender than an alcoholic,” Vatterott returned to talking about his alcoholism.

“These actions were done under the influence of alcohol,” said Vatterott, who is now enrolled in Alcoholics Anonymous. “Without alcohol in my life, these kinds of mistakes will not be made.”

Asked outside court about the judge’s concern that Vatterott was blaming alcohol for his behavior, the priest’s attorney, Charles Billings, said “that was the judge’s interpretation.”

“I think (Vatterott) has taken full responsibility for all his conduct,” he said.

An Archdiocese spokeswoman said Vatterott would no longer be paid now that he had pleaded guilty. The Archdiocese will forward Vatterott’s case to the Vatican to determine whether he should be laicized, or removed from the priesthood.

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/ballwin-priest-sentenced-to-years-for-child-pornography/article_795e37f5-c883-5481-9507-960a0ac6d2c6.html

CALIFORNIA REHAB RACKET CNN ANDERSON COOPER 360 AND THE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING EXPOSE FRAUD BY 12 STEP CLINICS

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California rehab clinics bill taxpayers for fake clients, addictions

Jul 29, 2013
Victoria Byers said that as a teenager, her group home took her to So Cal Health Services in Riverside, Calif., for rehab even though she didn’t drink or do drugs.

Credit: CNN

 Highlights

  • Fraud is rampant in California’s drug rehabilitation program for the poor, with clinics cheating taxpayers by billing for counseling that never happened.
  • Clinic operators are accused of pressuring staff to forge and falsify paperwork to pad bills.
  • California’s Medicaid system, the biggest in the nation, paid $94 million in the past two fiscal years – half of public rehab funding – to clinics that have shown signs of deception or questionable billing.

Victoria Byers did not drink alcohol. She did not abuse drugs. But when she was a teenager in foster care, several times a month, she would board a van at her group home and go to rehab.

Byers couldn’t figure out why she had to take drug tests and sit in group therapy sessions on addiction at So Cal Health Services, a clinic tucked in an office park in Riverside, Calif.

“And I told them, you know, ‘Why should I be here? I have no drug issue,’ ” said Byers, now a slow-to-smile 22-year-old.

The director of Byers’ group home confirmed Byers was clean but said she sent all six girls under her care to the clinic because she didn’t have enough staff to separate those with substance abuse problems.

The arrangement was strange. It was also a scam.

So Cal Health Services was ripping off taxpayers, part of a pattern of fraud by rehabilitation clinics that collect government funding to help the poor and addicted, a yearlong investigation by The Center for Investigative Reporting and CNN has found. The investigation, which included undercover surveillance and stakeouts, uncovered a rehab racket that continues to this day.

Thousands of pages of government records and dozens of interviews with counselors, patients and regulators reveal a widespread scheme to bilk the state’s Medicaid system, the nation’s largest. Witnesses to the fraud laid out its inner workings in minute detail, some speaking of it publicly for the first time.

In the underbelly of the Drug Medi-Cal program, clinics pad client rolls by diagnosing people like Byers with addictions they don’t have. They round up mentally ill residents from board-and-care homes to sit in therapy sessions they can’t follow. They lure patients in from the street by handing out cash, cigarettes and snacks. They have patients sign in for days they aren’t there. Continue reading →