Healthcare

Dad-Son Duo Accused Of Drugging Patients, Holding Them Hostage In Massive Fraud Scheme

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A father and son who operated drug and sober care facilities in Los Angeles, are accused of drugging vulnerable patients to keep them in need of treatment and on insurance company billings so they could glean the profits.

David Young, 71, and his son Nathan, 39, are accused of egregious healthcare fraud, including partnering with “body brokers,” across the country to target homeless individuals in need of sobriety treatment, send them to their facilities, prevent them from leaving so they could keep them on insurance plans and collect the money, the Los Angeles Times reported. The federal government indicted the Youngs as part of a collective fifteen defendants in what the Department of Justice (DOJ) called the “largest substance abuse treatment fraud scheme” it has ever prosecuted.

“To prevent patients from leaving the Young Facilities and to continue to bill the Insurance Plans for as long as possible, the Youngs created and implemented policies for the Young Facilities directing that patients be drugged with medication, cut off from communication with family members, prevented from accessing their belongings, and physically blocked from leaving,” the official criminal complaint found.

The affidavit authored by FBI Special Agent Daniel Frey, gave harrowing details of the Youngs’ alleged crimes from Frey’s investigation and requested warrants for their arrests.

As part of the investigation, a cooperating witness who was employed by the Youngs told the FBI that the Youngs instructed them and other employees at the facility to transfer patients from stabilization houses and sober living houses they operated to detox facilities, “regardless of whether it was medically necessary,” the affidavit states.

A powerpoint presentation dated Oct. 17, 2023 from David Young appears to instruct staff to “have doctors prescribe something to knock the client out,” when dealing with patients who tried to leave detox, Frey’s affidavit alleges.

From approximately May 2020 to May 2026, the Youngs submitted $1.6 billion in insurance claims money and received $210,274,793 insurance plan payments, billing for “non-existent and woefully inadequate ‘therapy’ sessions,” the criminal complaint says.

The father and son team communicated over text messages to employees under the aliases “Pablo Lopez” (Nathan) and “Sancho Lopez” (David) to discuss how to handle restless patients who wanted to leave the facilities, the affidavit shows. The cooperating witness with the FBI sent a text message to “Pablo” saying that a patient was “freaking out,” and wanting to “go back to sober living.

“I’m doing my best to keep him but he doesn’t want anything else but weed,” the witness allegedly texted.

“I would do edibles offsite,” “Pablo” advised on the message, saying that if the patient was off the premise it would be a kind of “loop hole,” the affidavit shows.

Prosecutors alleged that the Youngs fraudulently enrolled individuals in new insurance policies that they were not eligible for in order to retain reimbursements, the LA Times found.

As part of the Youngs’ operation, employees lured prospective patients to Southern California with free flights, money, apartments, hotel stays, cars, gift cards, marijuana, cigarettes, controlled substances — including illegal drugs — and other prescription medications freely dispensed by doctors employed by the Youngs, the affidavit claims.

The Youngs each posted $4 million bail, surrendered their passports and agreed to a home detention, the LA Times reported. A pending hearing is set for Nov. 5, according to the LA Times.

The DOJ’s announcement of prosecution of healthcare fraud in California came days after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it has deferred 1.2 billion Medicaid funds in the state of California.