‘We want to hear your story’
Owner of several substance abuse facilities is accused of sexually assaulting patients
The owner of several Houston substance abuse recovery facilities has been accused of sexual assaulting three women he met as patients, according to court records.
Michael Ray Hubacek Jr., 42, was charged Tuesday in connection with three allegations, documents show. The investigation spanned more than two years and garnered complaints stemming from two incidents in 2018 and a third that was reported in January of this year. In each of the complaints, Hubacek lured the women to his home.
Hubacek has since posted bond on two counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of sexual assault of an adult, jail records show.
Hubacek met the women while running Sober Living Houston — a chemical dependency program with multiple facilities for men and women. Police said he founded the program, with records showing that happened in the years after he completed probation for a 1997 drunken driving wreck that killed a father of two and the nanny to those children.
Former district judge and U.S. Rep. Ted Poe oversaw the case and ordered that Hubacek, then 19, carry pictures of the victims in his wallet. Hubacek at times stood at the intersection of Richmond and Fountainview with a sign announcing that he was responsible for their deaths.
During a news conference Thursday, Detective Dawn Baker said each of the sexual assault accusers had something in common.
“He has a type,” Baker said. “He has an m-o. He likes to focus on victims who are typically considered attractive but they’re struggling with addiction.”
“Often times, they are asked, or advised to, complete a courtmandatory program,” Baker continued, adding that at least two of
the women were under the influence when the assaults are said to have happened.
Defense attorney Brent Mayr said that while Hubacek remains the owner and operator for Sober Living Houston, he has been attempting to sell off the companies — which include a residential facility — amid the coronavirus pandemic. When he was active with the programs, he often worked with patients in group meetings and helped them make appointments. He was not a licensed counselor, Mayr said.
Mayr condemned the HPD probe as an ambush.
“They never reached out to Hubacek, to allow him to tell his side of the story,” Mayr said. “That’s not justice. It is designed to exploit him.”
“This is a man who has committed himself to living a sober lifestyle and who wanted to help others do the same,” he continued, adding that Hubacek has been sober for two decades.
According to court documents, the first accuser, then 27, came forward soon after Hubacek attacked her in February 2018 at his home. He took her out to lunch to talk about a letter he was writing to a judge about her probation. The two then went back to his apartment, where he then asked her to perform a sex act, investigators said in charging papers.
“If you do me this favor,” he began. “I will do you a favor and write this letter to your judge.”
If she didn’t comply, Hubacek allegedly said “this is the only way (you) aren’t going to jail.”
Hubacek then grabbed her hair and slapped her in the face, the accuser said. The sexual assault lasted 15 minutes and he took her back to the recovery center, records show.
Police contacted Hubacek about the allegation that month and he said the encounter was consensual. Baker said the charges were not approved following that interview because of a lack of evidence. The accuser
did not seek out a rape kit. What has changed is that more women have come forward, she continued.
Two more women lodged similar complaints to police accusing Hubacek of assaulting them while they were enrolled in a recovery center.
In March, a 35-year-old woman told investigators she met Hubacek in July 2018 through Take Action Recovery, where she was seeking treatment for a controlled substance case out of California, according to court documents. Hubacek identified himself as the director of that facility and Sober Living Houston to the woman and her mother.
The next month, the woman relapsed during a night out and Hubacek messaged her to come to his home. At his apartment, he asked her if “she liked it rough” and then knocked her unconscious. She woke up to Hubacek sexually assaulting her, court records show. The woman did not undergo a rape kit either but did seek medical treatment at a hospital for a concussion.
The woman revealed what happened to her lawyer and left the recovery center.
A third accuser said Hubacek gave her money in January of this year to buy heroin after she relapsed on Xanax, court records continued. She used the heroin in his apartment and next remembers him raping her.
“She did not want to back to Sober Living Houston after that incident,” investigators wrote. “She did not have anywhere else to go.”
Hubacek has since made bond on the three charges. Baker said she has heard from additional women whose allegations, some of which date back to 2016, may result in more charges.
“Please come forward,” Baker urged. “It may have been two years ago, four years ago, it does not matter. We want to hear your story.”