OWINGSVILLE, Ky. — The operators of a number of addiction treatment centers across Kentucky found themselves in trouble, following an arrest over the weekend.
John Elam, 43, and Myra Elam, 43, both of Morehead, were arrested early Saturday morning, after a driver reported their vehicle for traveling recklessly and at a high rate of speed on Interstate 64.
The Elams operate Edgewater Recovery Center, which has residential addiction treatment centers in Morehead, Pikeville, Flemingsburg and Paducah. Edgewater is also accused in a False Claims Act lawsuit of fraud for ordering unnecessary urine screens that were billed to the government. The company is also accused of falsifying patient records in order to qualify for grant funding from the Kentucky Opioid Response Effort and Operation UNITE.
The caller who reported the Elam’s reckless driving followed them until they pulled into a gas station, at which time he told police John Elam got out of his Cadillac Escalade and stood in the middle of the road. He was still in the road when police arrived, and an officer began talking to him and his wife.
The officer noted that both were unsteady on their feet and were slurring their words. Both were administered field sobriety tests and the officer wrote in his report that both showed clues of impairment, with John Elam drooling while talking to police and Myra Elam having a hard time making normal body movements.
John Elam told police his wife was driving, while she changed her story about who was driving several times. However, the officer finally concluded John Elam was driving after noticing the front and back of his pants were wet, as was the driver’s seat.
The officer determined that both were under the influence of some type of drug and arrested John Elam for DUI and Myra Elam for public intoxication.
While they were being arrested, the officer noted in his report that both kept telling him that they know numerous police officers, lawyers, public officials and judges, how much money they have, and how they were going to ruin the officer’s life for arresting them.
John Elam as listed on business records as the principal member of Edgewater Recovery Center, while Myra Elam is listed as the company’s registered agent.
The arrests come just days after the U.S. Attorney’s Office notified a federal judge that Edgewater had reached a tentative agreement to pay the government $2.2 million to settle allegations in a False Claims lawsuit that the company ordered weekly urine tests for all of its clients without regard to whether the tests were needed, and billed Medicare and Medicaid for the cost of the tests. In many cases, the company is accused of not even using the test results for diagnosis or treatment.
That agreement has not yet been filed with the court, indicating it has still not been finalized.
A co-defendant in the case, Acculab, which provided the testing services, has already finalized an agreement to pay the government $4.9 million to resolve its part in the scheme.
