Braking Point Recovery Center employees go unpaid

Staff report

AUSTINTOWN

A sign posted on the window of Braking Point Recovery Center in Austintown is advising employees the company is “working diligently to secure payroll.”

The sign also says recovery center officials do not know if they will be able to pay their employees, and that the situation is out of their control.

There is no signature on the sign.

Earlier this week, Braking Point sent letters to employees informing them the center was laying off virtually its entire staff. The duration of the layoffs and whether they will be permanent was not included in the letter.

Ryan Sheridan, owner, described the situation as “dramatic, unexpected and outside of our control.”

Sheridan did not respond to requests for comment Friday night.

Earlier this month, the FBI, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and other federal agencies executed search warrants at the recovery center and at Sheridan’s home in Leetonia.

Shortly after the federal raids, the recovery center stopped accepting patients on Medicaid, as the Ohio Department of Medicaid had determined “a credible allegation of fraud exists based on evidence that the company is allowing a physician to dispense Suboxone without proper authorization from the Drug Enforcement Administration.”

Sheridan said the center rectified the situation after learning of the mishap, and feared without accepting Medicaid patients the majority of the individuals the center served would be left in situations that might lead to a relapse.

The Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board suggested a number of alternative locations individuals can use seeking drug rehabilitation.