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Per Wickstrom has a long rap sheet of lawsuits, and staff with criminal records. Although Wickstrom confirms he's a Scientologist, his new website has no mention of Scientology or Narconon - only that it's a free referral service. Anyone 'in the know' is well aware that Narconon referral fees are received from the center at around $3,000.00 per client. Per Wickstrom is known for taking advantage of court-ordered drug addicts by hiring them once they complete the Narconon program, and for hiring staff with criminal records.
Trained counselors? Per Wickstrom is named in a stunning NAFC trademark violation lawsuit along with Scientology leader, David Miscavige, and 80 other defendants. The lawsuit alleges the centers faked certifications of some of its counselors.
Even though Per Wickstrom has the massive NAFC's lawsuit to deal with, and untold other 'unfinished cycles' of despair, he presses on with a new 'Gig' to enter into a "sponsorship partnership" with country singer Jared Blake.
Many have question whether Blake knows he is supporting a Cult run drug rehab network that abuses, defrauds, patients, and at least 14 found dead inside various Narconon centers.
I have noticed Per Wickstrom's bully tactics and threats against those who dare publish his name and drug rehab abuses inside his quack rehab centers.
Tony Ortega post the following on the Underground Bunker:
Now, another huckster by the name of Per Wickstrom has convinced Google to bury a story we wrote about him involving a young woman who died at one of his Scientology-style rehab clinics in Michigan. And the reason this time is even more fatuous.
On July 31, 2013 we reported that a woman named Amber Bullins had died in 2012 at Tranquility Detox, part of a cluster of facilities in Michigan associated with Wickstrom. She had originally been sent to one of Wickstrom’s Scientology-style rehab clinics, Best Drug Rehabilitation in Manistee, Michigan. But like other patients, Amber was first diverted to Wickstrom’s medical detox to dry her out — Tranquillity Detox in Battle Creek.
Wickstrom was once an employee in Scientology’s rehab system, Narconon, before breaking away on his own. Some of his facilities still have formal ties with Narconon, others just use Narconon materials. We’ve written previously about how things have gone horribly wrong at Wickstrom’s facilities.
Two days after Amber Bullins arrived at Tranquillity Detox to dry out, she was found dead, apparently from an overdose of drugs. We’re told that attorneys for her parents filed notice that they were preparing to sue the facility, but then never did, suggesting that some kind of deal was worked out.
Per Wickstrom is exposed on the Narconon Reviews website for countless violations, formal complaints, and Regulatory Violations. These drub rehab centers are far worse than the public or governments know, and cause far reaching distress to patients and their loved ones. Some patients die inside Narconon centers, and many die soon after leaving from drug overdoses and suicide. Narconon is a cult of Scientology indoctrination center that brain washes their victims using evil mind control techniques - leaving the addict in far worse condition after they they leave than when they entered Narconon.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Anonymous
Denham Springs,Louisiana,
USA
Complaints filed with state agency
#3Consumer Comment
Sun, July 17, 2016
Additional information and complaints filed with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs can be found here:
forum.reachingforthetippingpoint.net/index.php/topic,12937.0.html
w2.lara.state.mi.us/VAL/License/Details/2293913
An excerpt from one complaint:
"Complaint Allegations
It was alleged by the complainant/patient that:
The program does not have enough security staff on-site to ensure the safety of all clients in the program.
The complainant claims that there is no structure in the program and there is always chaos in the hallways to include loud music blaring in the facility. The complainant further claims that there is no real schedule in place for recovery.
The complainant claims that they placed money in an account with the program that was to be used for personal use and after leaving the program they refused to refund this money.
The complainant claims that staff members were having sex with clients and clients were having sex with each other and the program failed to address this.
The complainant claims that there is drinking of alcohol by staff members and clients in the facility and the program knew of these concerns and failed to address these concerns.
The complainant claims that staff members and clients smoke throughout the facility and the program is aware of this and has failed to address this concern
Although Serenity Point denied many of the allegations, they are similar to other complaints found at many of the branded and unbranded Narconons and Per Wickstrom rehabs.
David Love
Tennessee,USA
More Questions About Scientology-Style Drug Rehab And Insurance
#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Sat, July 09, 2016
The CofS seem to specialize in introducing confusion and delay into legal proceedings, and the distinctions between State and Federal laws is a happy hunting ground in this regard (they are certainly confusing me).
We’ve been watching things deteriorate for Scientology’s closed drug rehab center in the Atlanta area — Narconon Georgia — whose employees are now being investigated for potential criminal charges following a raid by law enforcement in April.
Our readers will likely remember that documents pried out of Narconon Georgia during a wrongful death lawsuit inspired Atlanta’s media to dig even further until they found evidence that a woman’s insurance company had been charged more than $160,000 after she had been told her advance payment of $15,000 would completely cover her daughter’s treatment. After state investigators began a criminal probe based on that information, millions more in suspicious charges to insurance companies turned up.
Now we’ve talked to a man who said he was told his treatment would cost $20,000 — but then found that his insurance company was billed nearly $200,000 instead. This man’s name is Sean Blevins, and he was treated at a Narconon-style center in Manistee, Michigan. We have Sean’s insurance billings. Will they inspire the same kind of interest in Michigan that has law enforcement digging in Georgia?
Sean Blevins is 42 and today lives in Florida. But he grew up in Alabama, and was transferred to Michigan by the company that had employed him for more than 20 years. His company was supportive when he developed a drinking problem — he’s never done drugs, he says — and he looked for a place to dry out. His sister did a search on the Internet, and suggested that he try a place in Battle Creek called A Forever Recovery. Before he could enroll there, however, he was told that he needed to go through a short medical detoxification program at another facility called Tranquility Detox. This requirement was for insurance reasons, he was told. He didn’t have the $20,000 for his treatment, but he was told that if he went through the medical detox, his insurance would cover his costs.
“They gave us all something to drink,” he tells us. After they picked him up, on the way to the facility he was taken to a bar to get him good and drunk. “You have to fail the breathalyzer. I blew a 2.2 or something. I was pretty inebriated.” He then spent five days at Tranquility Detox, where he was put on phenobarbital, which “zombified” him, he says.
Those facility names should be familiar to our readers — we just wrote about a deposition of a woman who was head of nursing at A Forever Recovery (which at that time had its own medical detox program, which has since been spun off to Tranquility Detox). She too testified about the practice of getting new patients inebriated before starting the program.
Blevins says he had few problems at A Forever Recovery, and he left the facility on June 6, 2012. He says he was told that if he relapsed, he could do a “retread” for free.
Later, when he started drinking again, he went back for more treatment, and this time was sent to another center, Best Drug Rehab in Manistee, Michigan, after another short drying out at Tranquility Detox.
A Forever Recovery, Tranquility Detox, and Best Drug Rehab are all part of a small rehab chain run by a man named Per Wickstrom who has a lengthy history with Scientology and its drug treatment system, Narconon. But a former Narconon International employee tells us that in 2008 there was a dispute between Narconon and Wickstrom, and he lost his licensing for what was then called Narconon Stone Hawk. After the license dispute, Wickstrom changed its name to A Forever Recovery. But Wickstrom still maintains ties with Scientology’s front groups in various ways, and Narconon materials are still used at the facilities — particularly at the Manistee center, Best Drug Rehab.
“That’s when the Scientology brainwashing started,” Sean Blevins says about his stay at Best Drug Rehab. “Staring contests. Bullbaiting. Walking people into walls, the whole thing.” He didn’t care for it, but he stuck it out from July 30 to early October, 2012. “They tried to push me toward Scientology, but I wasn’t interested.”
Also, he was surprised to find later how much he’d been charged. “It was supposed to be free, but it wasn’t free. I told them I still had COBRA insurance, but I couldn’t pay my premiums. They told me they’d make my insurance premiums so they could get me the most out of my policy,” he says.
Eventually, between his stay at A Forever Recovery, his two short stints at Tranquility Detox, and his tenure at Best Drug Rehab, his insurance policy was billed to the tune of $190,000. Records show that his insurance company actually paid just under $70,000 on those claims.
Sean says that while he was at Tranquility Detox the second time, a patient named Amber Bullins arrived.
“When she came in, she didn’t talk to anybody,” he says. Then, a few days later, she was in trouble.
“The paramedics came, and the employees were doing damage control. ‘Don’t say anything to anyone,’ they told us. They said she overdosed when she came in,” he said — but she had been there several days already.
“They said she must have smuggled the drugs in. But I don’t know how she could have done that,” Blevins says. “She was a young girl. She had a problem, and she went to them for help.”