Complaint Review: Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners - Phoenix Arizona

I am affiliated with the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Directors (AZBBHE) and, in the wake of the Fort Hood tragedy, I feel compelled to warn you of a therapist in Tucson who may pose a similar threat to her clients. As I know of the extent to which she is a threat, I believe I have a duty to warn any of her current and future clients, given the circumstances.

In December 2007, one of Ms. Perdues clients filed a complaint against her. Believing the complaint to be false, and not checking any of the records to verify whether the complaint were indeed false, the director of the AZBBHE, Debra Rinaudo, personally oversaw the falsification of Ms. Perdues licensure file. Without checking any phone or medical records, she assumed that Ms. Perdues client had falsely accused her of certain acts and that the client had done so maliciously.

Under these assumptions, the director of the AZBBHE allowed Ms. Perdues licensure file to be rewritten. As her licensure file currently stands, Ms.  Perdue's education, employment, and supervisory evaluations are all false. Between April 2008 and November 2008, Ms. Rinaudo removed from the AZBBHEs website any reference to therapists licensure files, in order that the public could not request any files and discover, directly or inadvertently, that Debra Rinaudo, Mary Perdue, and Laura Waterman (the director of SAMHC) were actively rewriting Ms. Perdue's records. The public has a right to request copies of therapists licensure files, but to ensure that they could rewrite Ms. Perdues licensure file in secret, they removed this request from the AZBBHE website.

In addition to falsifying Ms. Perdues licensure file, they also gave Ms. Perdue an advisory position at SAMHC in Tucson, where she works, as well as speaking engagements, and they advocated on her behalf to the members of the AZBBHE, in order that the members would resolve the dispute in her favor. The members of the board did not know that what was being shown them was a fronta scam.

Why did Ms. Rinaudo and Laura Waterman do this? They did it to avoid being held liable for licensing and allowing to work with the public a therapist who has a history of severe mental illness (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder), is an alcoholic, a drug addict, and who is frequently institutionalized. Additionally, Ms. Perdue admits that drugs and alcohol interfere with her ability to work as a therapist. This information is in her licensure file.

Given this information, I am now even more concerned, in the wake of the Ford Hood tragedy, that something similar could happen in Tucson. In fact, Ms. Rinaudo later learned that Ms. Perdue was responsible for the acts that her client said she had committed and that Ms. Perdue had rewritten her clients records in order that she could claim that what the client had said was false. As I fear that something similar may happen to other clients who come into contact with Ms. Perdue, I am writing this to warn you. Additionally, as Ms. Perdue works at SAMHC, those who go there may have no choice but to see her.

With respect to her licensure file: in falsifying her file, Ms. Rinaudo gave Ms. Perdue an extra Masters degree from St. Lawrence University. In fact, Ms. Perdue received only a BA from this university in 1975. Additionally, the rewritten licensure file states that Ms. Perdue had worked at a mental health clinic in San Francisco in the mid-1990s. In fact, she was working in Seattle during this time. One of Ms. Perdue's supervisor evaluations was also falsified, claiming that Laura Waterman, the Director of SAMHC, had written it. This, too, was false.

Although the client who wrote the complaint against Ms. Perdue did present evidence to the Board that Ms. Perdue had falsified the clients records and rewritten her therapy history, as Ms. Rinaudo and Ms. Waterman had already falsified Ms. Perdues licensure file Ms. Rinaudo had the evidence dismissed and told the Board members that they could not review it.

I write this in fear for the safety of those who may unwittingly come into contact with Mary Perdue at SAMHC, or in her private practice. Do not allow Ms. Perdue to do to you what she did to her other client. Do not give the AZBBHE and SAMHC another opportunity to cover up their negligence in order to avoid responsibility for licensing and hiring as a therapist someone who poses such a danger to her clients.