SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Nicholas Szymanski struggled with addiction since he was 13 years old. Heroin, his mother said, had long been his drug of choice.
He had visited multiple rehab and detox facilities through his adolescence and early adulthood, and in 2023, he found a place in Pathfinders Recovery Center and sober living facilities.
At 24, Nicholas experienced six months of sobriety. His mother Tiffany said he loved it.
“Because there's a life that's so much better out there,” Tiffany said. “And he experienced it for six months of his life for the first time in 11 years. And he thought it was the most amazing thing ever.”
On Aug. 17, 2023, Nicholas Szymanski died of a drug overdose. Tiffany found him alone in his car in a parking lot in Chandler.
“I talked to him on the phone,” Tiffany recalled of their last phone call the night Nicholas died.
“And I said, ‘You don't sound right.’ ‘No Mom, I'm fine. I'm fine.’ I knew the second I hung up the phone that he wasn't fine.”
Two days later, on Aug. 19, Sylvia Tryon lost her son, Mickey, also to a drug overdose.
Both men had graduated from the Pathfinders Recovery Center program earlier that summer.
“Addictions are a very dangerous demon. It's very hard for many people out there and if you're not given the correct tools to get through that it's very, very hard,” Tiffany said.
Nicholas and Mickey’s families know that addiction is complicated, relapses are common, and deadly. Still, each wondered whether more could have been done to help these men in their recovery.
“(Pathfinders) gave him a packet of information from day one saying ‘this is what we're doing and this is what you're going to learn here.’ They didn't go through even half of that stuff,” Tiffany said.
Pathfinder’s parent company, BayMark Health, said it had no comment when reached Thursday afternoon.
However, one resident, who remembered both Nicholas and Mickey, was concerned that the recovery program wasn’t fulfilling its duties.
Inside the group home
In the summer of 2023, Eric Elliot checked himself into detox to help overcome a years-long battle with alcoholism. He got into Pathfinders Recovery Center and a Pathfinders sober living home, where he said things didn’t seem right.
“We had the sewage overflow into the tubs and they wouldn't call the sewage guy at night because it's extra. Wait till the morning – so the entire house, just horrible,” Elliot said.
He described being given medication in the home, and having “group sessions”, which he understood to be rehab therapy, instead were little more than the residents sleeping through YouTube videos.
“Really weird. Really, really, really weird,” he said.
He shared photos with the 12News I-Team, and said he wanted to know how much the state Medicaid program, or the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, known commonly as AHCCCS, was paying for his recovery.
“Trust me, if it was at a private insurance company and they caught you doing that they would not pay the entire bill and the state will still pay,” Elliot said.
Complaints and concerns prompt state investigations
The 12News I-Team asked the state health department and AHCCCS, whether any of these allegations would be considered a violation of state law.
Days later, on Oct. 5, the Arizona Department of Health Safety conducted its first inspection on record for one of Pathfinders’ sober living homes.
The inspection resulted in 11 citations.
Among the issues, the health department compliance officer noted:
- More people living there than the facility was licensed to house
- The facility was administering medication, allegedly in violation of state law
- The facility “failed to have a manager residing on the premises”
- No functioning smoke detectors
- Hazards including broken windows, exposed wire, and “fist-sized” holes in a door
A spokesperson for ADHS said in an email to the I-Team that the enforcement process is ongoing, and they could not speak about a specific facility in an interview.
The state’s health department investigation has not yet resulted in any enforcement action against the facility for the deficiencies cited in October, and any action could take time.
“Enforcement actions may include civil money penalties or even revocation of the license. Licensees do have appeal rights, and often request settlement, which slows the process significantly,” Siman Qaasim, the assistant director of policy and intergovernmental affairs said in the email.
A month later, on Nov. 3, AHCCCS suspended all of its payments to Pathfinders, pending its own investigation into a “credible allegation of fraud.”
The letter notifying Pathfinders of the fraud allegation includes a list of more than a dozen suspected violations of state and federal law including:
- Billing for members who were not in Pathfinders facilities but were in:
- A hospital
- A psychiatric hospital
- An American Indian Hospital
- An emergency room
- Incarcerated in jail
- Billing for more hours than Pathfinders was open
- Billing one member for more than 30 hours of counseling on a single date
- Double billing and “codestacking”
AHCCCS also forwarded a letter sent to Pathfinders informing the company it had been terminated from the AHCCCS system and barred for the next five years.
What comes next
Eric Elliot left Pathfinders in early October and has continued his recovery.
“Do you feel more equipped than you did when you went in?” asked the I-Team’s William Pitts.
“I do. I do. And a lot of that is through the work that I've put in on the outside,” Elliot said. “But I'm not going to discount that I didn't learn things while I was there, to be certain I did. There are good people at those places.”
Pathfinders has the legal right to appeal both the health department and AHCCCS findings.
The company may also provide evidence to AHCCCS in writing to refute the allegations of fraud. If Pathfinders does stop providing services to other members, AHCCCS requires that the company transitions the care of any residents or patients to other providers.
Pathfinders is now on a list of more than 300 treatment and rehab providers that AHCCCS has suspended since 2019. The majority of those suspensions are dated after February 2023, when the department opened a widespread investigation into allegations of fraud at sober living homes.
More information
Anyone experiencing a crisis or suicidal thoughts can contact the 988 Lifeline. The line provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals in the United States.
To contact the 12News I-Team for tips on this or any other story, email connect@12news.com