Wayne County spends public money to treat its addiction crisis, but this outlet’s reporting has found that money increasingly flows to fewer providers under murkier terms. The county’s heroin taskforce filed one report accounting for $154,910 with no legal names and no answers about where it went.
Much of the funding has concentrated at Little Creek, whose treatment center this outlet found is owned by a South Florida investment firm, and whose own foundation spent $96,000 on a building its founders personally owned. Meanwhile, the county cut payments to PATH, its longtime nonprofit provider, by 75% while steering jail work, a new contract, and a county renovation to Little Creek instead.
PATH is now down to its last $34,000, and the county pays only two of its four licensed addiction providers. If it happens in Wayne County’s addiction-treatment system and it’s of public interest, we’ll cover it — check back here to stay current.
The Wayne County Heroin Prevention Task Force took in $154,910 and filed one tax return. CPA Alfred Beck listed every officer under a nickname. Vice president Andrew Rusich had a felony drug conviction. No payees were named. No books were closed. The IRS revoked its tax-exempt status.
A Wayne County addiction nonprofit, Little Creek Foundation, spent $96,000 on its founders' property and tens of thousands on unnamed "scholarships" and "treatment costs."
Pennsylvania Secretary of State filings show Little Creek Lodge — Wayne County's fastest-growing addiction treatment provider — was acquired by Allerand FS Investco, a Delaware LLC tied to a South Florida investment group. Judge Matthew Meagher served as the registered office for the facility's corporate entities for 13 years. His former law partner prosecutes cases before him. His family collects county rent. No public record shows the county acknowledged the ownership change.
Wayne County Drug and Alcohol Commission payments to PA Treatment and Healing dropped 75% in nine months while Little Creek gained a jail contract and a building.
PA Treatment & Healing once held $5.25 million in net assets and employed nearly 200 people. A Pocono Review analysis of nine years of IRS Form 990 filings shows net assets have fallen to $34,630, unrestricted funds are negative, and a board member is collecting $122,000 as the organization's highest-paid contractor.
Four outpatient drug and alcohol providers hold full DDAP licenses in Wayne County, PA. The county's Drug and Alcohol Commission contracts with two. A Pocono Review investigation examines why court-ordered clients are steered to just two providers — and who gets left out.