More sober home arrests in Palm Beach County

Table of Content

• UPDATE: Sober home task force arrests six; total now tops 40
• More sober home arrests in Palm Beach County
• One dead, another injured in Palm Beach Boulevard shooting
• Good Housekeeping
• SAO announces sober home task force, two arrested
• Prosecutions first for death based on 'reckless disregard,' state attorney says

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.

She will have no felony conviction if she successfully completes probation. Arrested Dec. 2 on 8 counts of patient brokering and 5 counts of aiding patient brokering. As co-owner of Saved by Grace, a sober home in Delray Beach, LaFrance deposited $6,750 in 13 checks from Whole Life Recovery for case-management services, according to court records. John Dudek, a 55-year-old tattoo artist from Delray Beach, has been arrested twice on aiding patient brokering charges. In both cases, Dudek received $450 for each addict with insurance that he enrolled from his sober home, Southern Palms Oasis to Whole Life Recovery. On the same even of Tommoso’s arrest, in Boyton Beach, Florida a husband and wife team who operate a drug treatment center and sober homes were arrested for what authorities describe as a payment scam.

UPDATE: Sober home task force arrests six; total now tops 40

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.

She will serve five years in prison on the manslaughter and patient-brokering charges, with credit for the 898 days – nearly 2.5 years – she has spent in the Palm Beach County Jail awaiting trial. Once she is released, she will spend five years on probation, according to court documents. Tomasso operated Pathways 2 Recovery in Boca Raton, Inspirations Recovery in Greenacres and Acceptance Recovery Center in Delray Beach from the offices of Global Recovery Resources, another business owned by Tomasso. Norquist, 26, of Boynton Beach and his brother Patrick, 32, of Delray Beach, are charged with brokering patients from their Delray Beach sober home, The Halfway House, to Whole Life Recovery. Dave is charged with violating a statute against patient brokering. In the probable cause affidavit, a witness told authorities Dave paid residents in cigarettes and gift cards for attending therapy sessions.

More sober home arrests in Palm Beach County

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.

He was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay $5,250 fine. Hutson, 37, of West Palm Beach, worked at Kigar’s Whole Life Recovery Treatment Center, where he handled payments and contracts with patient brokers, according to a police report. Hutson’s criminal record includes a 2012 conviction for fraud for his role in a $40 million pill mill empire operated by Wellington brothers Christopher and Jeff George. According to court records, Hutson ran an illegal internet steroid business and sold steroids on behalf of Jeff George.

One dead, another injured in Palm Beach Boulevard shooting

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.

The state did not press charges of conspiracy to commit racketeering and misuse of personal information. Cleef, Kosarko and Torree all died of drug overdoses there during nine months between 2017 and 2018. Muhammad, 50, of Boca Raton, worked as the admissions director at Chapters Recovery, a substance-abuse treatment facility that also did business as Good Futures Recovery in Delray Beach.

Plea deals send Loxahatchee sober home owners to prison after three men died in their care

Arrested Feb. 23 on 93 counts of aiding patient brokering and on May 11 for 5 counts of patient brokering. Prosecutors are pursuing 48 of the aiding patient brokering charges and the five patient brokering charges. Iskander, 34, of Lake Worth, pleaded guilty on May 19 to six counts of brokering residents from his sober house, Integrity House, to Whole Life Recovery.

Police reports say that Kandler — along with co-owners David Remland and Mark Desimone — made payments to James Tomasso and others for urine samples from addicts at various treatment centers. Prosecutors filed five additional patient brokering charges against Kandler in May relating to business practices at his lab. Dobard, 50, of Delray Beach, pleaded guilty on April 27 to nine counts of aiding patient brokering and two counts of attempted patient brokering. He was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay a $10,500 fine. He also must cooperate with investigators and is barred from working in the drug treatment industry.

Good Housekeeping

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.

According to investigators Jayeshkumar Dave allowed patients at the Wellness Center of Palm Beach to stay rent free in a sober home he managed. According to their arrest reports, Steven Manko and Alana Manko, a husband and wife, managed Treatment Alternatives, LLC. Arenberg received a $275,000 grant from the Florida legislature to start the task force.