STATE FAULTED REHAB CENTER - BUT KEPT SILENT

Despite Red Flags, Drug And Alcohol Agency Failed To Inform Public Of
Troubles At Orange County Treatment Facility.

Determined to help her addicted teen, Sacramento retail clerk Cathi
Taylor unwittingly spent more than $22,000 on a drug treatment program
one state agency tried to shut down and another allowed to remain open.

"They put up this facade like this was really a good place to take
your kids," said Taylor, who now feels she was misled.

Taylor sent her daughter to MedPro Treatment Center in Orange County
last year because it had a top rating from the Better Business Bureau.

Unbeknownst to her and the bureau, MedPro's house manager had been
convicted of rape, and two of its owners had been banned for life from
Department of Social Services programs.

Gary Almond, vice president of the Better Business Bureau of the
Southland, said he could only find a record indicating MedPro was in
good standing with another state agency, the Department of Alcohol and
Drug Programs.

"When you have agencies that can keep this sort of stuff hidden, it's
hard," he said.

The case illustrates the shortcomings in a regulatory system in which
state agencies fail to report wrongdoing to the public and have
differing rules.

The department overseeing California's drug treatment industry
provides no public accounting on its Web site of misconduct in the
programs or among the professionals it regulates.

The Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs only began requiring drug
counselors to register last year, and it makes information available
about misconduct only through a lengthy public records request process.

Its lawyer, Morgan L. Staines, has said this is to ensure the
confidentiality required by law for those in treatment.

Taylor said the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs should protect
consumers who need to find treatment as soon as their loved ones want
help.

"Something should have been published on (the department's) Web site
for the protection of other teenage girls as well as the pocketbooks
of the already traumatized parents of these kids," Taylor said.

The department said it protects consumers by investigating their
complaints. But it never received a complaint from the Taylors.

Taylor's daughter, Stephanie, said she complained frequently to
MedPro, but the counselors told her she was "just trying to find
faults with the program."

Her mother said the two of them were barely communicating at the time,
and she didn't know about MedPro's past problems before seeing a
mention of the program in The Bee's recent report on drug treatment.

Shirley Washington, Department of Social Services spokeswoman, said
the department now issues press releases when it takes action against
a program.

But that rule was not in effect when it sanctioned MedPro's owners in
April 2004.

She said Social Services did notify the Department of Alcohol and Drug
Programs about its MedPro investigation as early as 2003. The drug
programs agency said it didn't take any immediate action because it
has different regulations than Social Services.

"Our regulations encourage the development of alcohol and drug
treatment facilities," the agency said in a statement. "Alcohol and
drug treatment programs are voluntary, meaning a client may leave at
any time, while individuals in a DSS facility typically require a
higher level of care."

MedPro, which recently changed its name to the Center for Dual
Diagnosis Treatment, stayed in business until June 16, 2005, as an
adult residential treatment center with a drug agency license. It
surrendered that license after the drug program agency found several
violations.

But it remains in business as an unregulated sober living house and an
outpatient center that meets a lower standard of state
certification.

As a residential facility, MedPro first came to Social Services'
attention in 2003, after the program's director reported sexual
misconduct charges to police.

MedPro's house manager at the time, Michael Jerry Escarcida Jr., was
convicted of statutory rape, and MedPro settled out of court with
another girl who claimed Escarcida molested her.

MedPro's attorney, Michael Eisenbaum, called the sexual abuse "an
aberration" and said Escarcida was fired immediately.

"He was just a bad guy," Eisenbaum said. "He kind of slipped through
the system."

In addition to the sexual misconduct, Social Services charged MedPro
with violating its rules by having other staff with criminal records
working with teens.

The department also claimed the facility didn't provide adequate
treatment and charged for services that weren't provided.

It described teens smoking on rooftops and displaying "bare breasts"
and other body parts to neighbors. In one case, the department said, a
teen got drunk on alcohol supplied by a cook at MedPro's adult
facility, drove a vehicle and crashed it.

It also noted that MedPro Director Simon Andrew Casey pleaded guilty
in 1999 to practicing psychology without a license and filing false
health claims. It charged him with continuing to claim to be a
psychologist while working at MedPro.

On April 8, 2004, Casey and administrator Leon Desimone agreed to a
lifetime ban from Social Services programs but admitted no specific
wrongdoing.

They continue to be affiliated with MedPro - or its current
incarnation as the Center for Dual Diagnosis Treatment.

Taylor and her daughter said Casey is also continuing to claim to be a
psychologist.

Eisenbaum, Casey's lawyer, insisted neither Casey nor MedPro's staff
made such a claim.

He said Casey has a doctorate in psychology and goes by the name of
"Dr. Casey," resulting in some misunderstandings.

He said Casey is registered as a psychological assistant. Victoria
Thornton, Board of Psychology spokeswoman, said that registration was
revoked last year when Casey's supervising psychologist told the board
he was no longer supervising Casey.

Cathi Taylor said she felt Casey and the rest of MedPro's staff misled
her by failing to disclose the program's past troubles and by promises
they made.

Stephanie Taylor was less than two months from high school graduation
when she sought help to beat a growing drug addiction.

The father of a friend had found MedPro. Cathi Taylor contacted the
program and said its staff falsely claimed male and female patients
lived separately and that her daughter would be able to complete high
school while in treatment.

MedPro's lawyer, Eisenbaum, said the staff didn't mislead Taylor and
did arrange for her daughter to finish studies at a nearby community
college.

"Stephanie certainly seemed happy when she left, and they did
everything to help her remove herself from the path she was previously
on," he said.

Stephanie Taylor said MedPro didn't deliver on its promise to provide
tutoring so she could graduate from the Sacramento school she'd been
attending.

She relapsed three times during her three months at MedPro.

Cathi Taylor said she considered removing her daughter from the
program but didn't know where to send her.

"I thought this was better than her killing herself or someone else on
the road," she said.

At age 19, Stephanie Taylor still doesn't have her high school
diploma. She entered another Orange County program in August 2005, and
she said it has helped her more than MedPro did.

"I have been clean and sober for eight months," Stephanie Taylor said
with pride.