Drug task force makes more arrests
Pair accused in patient brokering
Twomore people have been arrested by a task force in Palm Beach County cracking down on illegal practices in the drug-treatment industry. The total of arrests in the county now stands at 30.
In the latest arrests, the owners of a West Palm Beach drug-treatment center were chargedwith paying four sober-home owners more than $300,000 for patient referrals.
The owners of a West Palm Beach drug-treatment center have been charged with paying four sober-home owners more than $300,000 for patient referrals — the latest arrests in a Palm Beach County crackdown unscrupulous practices in the drug-treatment industry.
Jordi Martinez and Mark Johnson, who run London Treatment Center, each face 62 counts of violating the state’s patient brokering law, a thirddegree felony that carries a maximum of five years in prison. Neither could not be reached for comment Friday.
The county task force in charge of the crackdown has made 30 arrests, most of them drug-treatment center owners and sober-home owners doing business with them.
Florida law prohibits anyone from offering or paying any commission, kickback or bribe to promote the referral of patients to or from a health care provider. Sober homes are group homes for recovering adon dicts.
According to the report of Wednesday’s arrest, the four unnamed sober-home owners said Johnson and Martinez paid them $500 for every patient they referred, up to 20 patients, and after 20, $600 for each patient, dating to August 2015.
Johnson, 55, and Martinez, 48, told two of the sober-home owners they would have to sign
a marketing agreement because it was “the only way to make the agreement legal,” the arrest report states.
Both sober-home owners
said Johnson and Martinez knew the contract wasn’t for marketing, but for referring patients to the London Treatment Center, the report said. Johnson and Martinez paid them $256,500 in 2016, according to the report. One of the four soberhome owners said he owned Redemption House from August 2016 to January 2017, and was approached by Johnson and a man named Max Kiellish in late August 2016 for patient referrals, according to the arrest report. Kiellish couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.
The Redemption House owner said Johnson offered him “$600 per head” for each client he referred to London Treatment Center, the report said.
The owner said he received nine checks for $4,500 between Dec. 1, 2016, and Jan. 24, 2017, and patients were given free food and cigarettes for attending treatment, according to the report. In December 2016, Johnson told the owner their agreement for referring patients was illegal and instead he would pay a flat fee of $4,500 for any number of patients, as long as at least five clients a week were referred, according to
the arrest report.
Redemption House’s owner said he told Johnson and Martinez he had legal issues and could only refer one client, the report said. The contract was canceled immediately and hewas advised that London Treatment Center would not do business withhim anymore, according to the report.
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