CHRISTOPHER BATHUM Community Recovery LA – Cold Canyon Recovery – Kirsten Wallace – Justin Hodak - Summerhill Malibu – The West Adams Project – Community Recovery Colorado – House of the Women – The Melrose Project - Silver Fir ILLEGAL REHAB OPERATOR, INSURANCE SCAMMER, MUST BE STOPPED Los Angeles and Denver Nationwide

Please read this carefully: Stay as far away from these despicable people as you possibly can.  I know because my poor son went to this place because of the solicitations of one, Christopher Bathum, which I now find out from a report by ABC News in Denver, is a federally convicted felon running unlicensed rehabs in Calabasas and other parts of Los Angeles, Malibu, and now in the Denver, Colorado area.

This man, Bathum, goes from start-up rehab to start-up rehab with his co-conspirator, Kirsten Wallace, who is in it up to her neck.  Bathum's MO is to take full advantage of unsuspecting and sick people to further his sociopathic and economic needs. He has no credentials or education, but passes himself off as a psychologist, author (self-published), and/or Clinical Director to the unsuspecting addicts, and parents of addicts, to win them over.  The truth is he's a guy who used to own a small pool cleaning company and is an unlicensed hypnotherapist.

How do I know all this?  Because he took advantage of me and, tragically hurt my son, who, sadly, died of an overdose shortly after he left Community Recovery LA, one of the many rehab names Bathum has used over the last few years.  The insurance recaps I later received showed my son was still getting treatment long after he had passed away is what started it. In my grief I did a little research, starting by doing a basic Google search of Christopher Bathum's name (forget all the self-serving stuff he put up about himself and concentrate on the third party reports).  What I found was scary.  I only wish I had done this before falling for his program.  Further digging led me to find out he has been thrown out of other rehabs, sued repeatedly by people and investors he has ripped off, been evicted several times from all the houses he's leased for his unlicensed rehabs, and is well known in the rehab community for committing insurance scams.

His illegal rehabs are not licensed by the State of California, and contrary to what the web sites say, are not approved by the Joint Commission (JACHO).  How he continues to get away with it is hard to believe, but I intend to pursue it, and I encourage others to complain to the California Secretary of State's office, insurance companies and the Attorney Generals of California and Colorado.  Or contact me, maybe we can put together a class-action lawsuit.  This has to be stopped.

Here's how he hooks people - he'll advertize a very low rate for rehab treatment and claim they are one of the best rehabs in the country (I'm sure he just made that up), when his real aim is to find patients with insurance so he can bilk the insurance companies for everything under the sun, much of it made up.  He's a very slick operator and can turn on the charm and sound like some sort of addiction guru, but as I sadly found out, he's a charlaton and a classic flim-flam man.

Please, if you have experienced this fraud yourself, or it has happened to someone you love, join me in trying to stop these people who prey on the weak in honor of my son.

John P.