Idaho local and state agencies directed federal funding to safe house despite complaints and contractual violations

Editor’s note: As concerns astir activity trafficking escalate, 1 salient Idaho nonprofit is providing a shape of rescue that immoderate survivors opportunity leaves them trapped successful different rhythm of power and coercion, funded by questionable Medicaid billing. This is portion 2 of a three-part bid called “Savior Complex.” Read portion 1 here. Part 3 will beryllium posted Thursday.

(InvestigateWest) — Within days of leaving nan safe house, Ally decided she needed to put it each successful penning — nan control, manipulation, nan emotion for illustration she’d been “trafficked and exploited” by nan very spot that was expected to thief trafficking survivors for illustration her.

She’d been astatine a safe location tally by Community Outreach Behavioral Services, aliases COBS, an Idaho anti-trafficking nonprofit, for small much than a period successful autumn 2023 earlier she recovered nan courageousness to leave. She hoped to forestall different women from falling prey to nan programme by filing a title to nan Idaho Council connected Domestic Violence and Victim Assistance, a authorities granting agency for programs serving crime victims.

RELATED | An Idaho safe location claimed it was redeeming trafficking victims. Women said it was for illustration being ‘trafficked each complete again’

“I would not urge nan COBS programme to anyone astatine each and they should beryllium investigated,” wrote Ally, 25.

The elaborate title describing nan restrictive and unsafe situation astatine nan COBS safe location wasn’t nan first clip a authorities aliases section agency successful Idaho heard reddish flags astir nan program, which opened its first safe location for trafficking survivors successful 2020. Nor was it nan last. The Idaho Attorney General’s Office received a title astir COBS’ conflict of liking pinch a for-profit institution owned by Barthelmess’ boy successful 2022. Since 2023, 3 complaints were submitted to nan authorities assembly for unfortunate assistance.

InvestigateWest has recovered that respective erstwhile safe location residents had akin complaints arsenic Ally, and that nan program’s laminitis was self-dealing and billing residents’ Medicaid for services that residents opportunity they ne'er received. But contempt nan complaints, InvestigateWest recovered nary authorities agency that investigated whether different survivors aliases COBS labor could verify nan allegations.

“Does personification person to dice successful her attraction earlier we commencement to really analyse nan legitimacy of her program?”

In fact, COBS, which has denied that it has a conflict of liking aliases exploits trafficking survivors, pointed reporters to nan investigation conducted by nan assembly arsenic grounds that nan unfortunate complaints lacked merit. The programme continues to person authorities backing and partner intimately pinch constabulary for customer referrals.

Currently, dissimilar for younker homes, there’s nary regulatory entity to licence and show safe houses aliases sober homes for adults successful Idaho. The spread successful oversight intends that short of going to police, residents tin only record general complaints done authorities agencies that nonstop money to nan program. The astir terrible consequence a programme could look from these agencies is having its backing reduced aliases eliminated.

Today, COBS receives national dollars for unfortunate assistance done 2 sources: nan authorities assembly for unfortunate assistance, and nan Nampa Family Justice Center, tally by nan metropolis of Nampa. A reappraisal of authorities contracts, transactions and complaints reveals, however, that COBS has violated aggregate conditions to person backing from those entities.

Other work providers who person agelong been wary of COBS and its founder, Paula Barthelmess, opportunity they’re perplexed by nan inaction from some entities, which either activity intimately pinch COBS aliases person been alerted to imaginable breaches of contract.

tai simpson, a national of nan Nimiipuu people who doesn’t capitalize her sanction because location are nary superior letters successful nan Nez Perce language, is an organizer and advocator for Indigenous trafficking survivors successful Idaho. She said she would “never complete my dormant assemblage nonstop my Indigenous relatives” to immoderate of Barthelmess’ programs.

“Does personification person to dice successful her attraction earlier we commencement to really analyse nan legitimacy of her program?” simpson said.

Rule breakers

After filing her title successful October 2023, Ally said nan authorities unfortunate assistance assembly ne'er interviewed her to verify nan claims.

The assembly had been administering backing to COBS for little than a period — a full of $180,000 successful authorities and national grants — erstwhile it received Ally’s complaint.

The backing comes pinch standards, set distant by nan council, to guarantee that a program’s policies align pinch national and authorities law. For example, COBS can’t enforce restrictive conditions connected survivors successful bid for them to get services, for illustration requiring sobriety. It besides must debar conflicts of liking and protect nan confidentiality of its clients.

Ally’s title laid retired 5 pages’ worthy of concerns — emotion unsafe, having her individual accusation shared without her consent, and nan conflict pinch nan for-profit Advanced Clinical Trauma Services, owned by Barthelmess’ son, that provides therapy and lawsuit guidance for safe location residents, among different issues.

“Nothing was backstage and everything was monitored,” nan title says.

The authorities assembly had heard these concerns before. A fewer months earlier, successful March 2023, Jennifer Zielinski, head of nan Boise-based nonprofit Idaho Anti-Trafficking Coalition, submitted a 48-page general title to nan assembly describing subsister information issues astatine COBS and Barthelmess’ alleged conflicts of interest. Nothing ever came of nan complaint, said Zielinski, who thinks assembly unit wrote disconnected her concerns arsenic portion of an ongoing rift betwixt nan 2 anti-trafficking organizations.

Dana Wiemiller, nan council’s executive director, said nan agency is “not a regulatory body.” It doesn’t person nan powerfulness to unopen a programme down, only trim disconnected its funding.

“So we aren’t going to beryllium going successful and looking specifically astatine value of attraction issues only because that’s not our role, and our unit present isn’t qualified for those types of assessments,” Wiemiller said.

Rather, nan assembly attempts to amended and support unfortunate work organizations truthful that they tin meet national and authorities requirements for funding, she added.

“We for illustration to activity pinch programs to amended policies and procedures, alternatively than garbage aliases trim disconnected funding,” Wiemiller wrote successful an email consequence to InvestigateWest. “Please beryllium alert that, for astir of nan programs we fund, our backing represents a ample percent of their operating budget. We return this work very earnestly and we would ne'er do thing to put our national backing astatine risk.”

Still, nan COBS’ programme didn’t align pinch nan council’s work standards for years earlier nan assembly began administering funding, InvestigateWest’s reporting shows. COBS has been requiring sobriety of victims astatine its 3 safe houses since opening nan first location successful 2020.

Barthelmess has exposed individual accusation astir clients successful nationalist settings, according to survivors and general complaints submitted to authorities agencies astir COBS. She’s posted survivors’ stories connected Facebook, though nan posts don’t see names. Survivors opportunity that while astatine nan program, they felt pressured into sharing their stories pinch nan media and astatine nationalist events. InvestigateWest was capable to place respective safe location residents done nationalist Venmo transactions to COBS.

And COBS had been referring clients to ACTS, nan intelligence wellness institution owned by Barthelmess’ son, which experts opportunity is apt a conflict of interest. Two whistleblower attorneys besides told InvestigateWest that ACTS is apt committing Medicaid fraud by billing safe location residents for services they didn’t receive.

According to nan council’s own policies, grievances should beryllium investigated done an “unannounced monitoring tract sojourn of nan programme involved,” resulting successful a written study and recommendations by assembly staff.

But that didn’t hap successful consequence to Ally’s title or, months later, erstwhile different erstwhile resident submitted a complaint. Council unit ne'er visited nan safe houses during its investigations, according to nan council’s records.

Council labor scheduled a gathering pinch COBS unit astatine nan program’s agency successful Meridian — an agency abstraction that it shares pinch nan for-profit ACTS — and reviewed nan program’s policies arsenic portion of its investigation into Ally’s complaint. The review identified 11 instances of noncompliance pinch national and authorities backing standards, including deficiencies successful nan program’s policies regarding confidentiality, informed consent, conflicts of interest, unit training and customer complaints.

The assembly advised COBS that it can’t require clients to meet restrictive conditions successful bid to person services, for illustration information successful a detox. It gave nan programme 30 days — until Jan. 8, 2024 — to region nan detox request from its argumentation and reside nan different areas of noncompliance.

Yet successful March 2024, erstwhile a 2nd erstwhile safe location resident who goes by Franky submitted a title to nan assembly alleging that COBS clients are forced to spell to constituent maltreatment therapy, nan assembly still didn’t do an unannounced tract visit, and this time, it didn’t moreover reappraisal each of COBS’ policies, records show.

Instead, Wiemiller sent COBS a summary of nan allegations brought against nan program, and COBS denied nan allegations. COBS sent nan assembly its safe location rules, which see “no constituent use,” arsenic good arsenic different conditions that clients must travel to person services — information successful random supplier tests and spot searches, nary cigarettes, nary societal media, nary romanticist relationships and nary interaction “with anyone from your past without approval.”

Records springiness nary denotation that nan assembly for unfortunate assistance interviewed immoderate different residents to verify nan allegations.

After receiving COBS’ response, 2 assembly labor called Franky to show her that Barthelmess denied nan allegations, Franky remembers.

“They conscionable asked her, and she denied it. That’s it,” Franky said. “Didn’t moreover analyse it.”

Wiemiller noted that nan assembly doesn’t expect unfortunate work organizations to beryllium afloat successful compliance pinch each backing standards correct away.

“We admit that caller applicants, particularly those who whitethorn beryllium caller to national backing requirements, will request guidance to bring each of their policies into compliance,” she wrote successful an email consequence to InvestigateWest.

But still to this day, Barthelmess openly advertises COBS arsenic a cleanable and sober programme wherever safe location residents are supplier tested “all nan time.” “No pot, nary suboxone, nary drugs, nary alcohol,” Barthelmess told InvestigateWest.

Part of nan system

COBS first started getting national backing for its safe houses successful 2021, portion of a $350,000 grant awarded to nan metropolis of Nampa for unfortunate services and organization trainings astir quality trafficking.

According to a memorandum of understanding signed successful April 2021 by COBS, nan Nampa Family Justice Center has “primary administrative oversight of nan grant.”

The Nampa Family Justice Center, an statement wrong nan city’s authorities that partners pinch agencies for illustration COBS to service survivors of quality trafficking and different forms of abuse, is acquainted pinch really COBS functions. The 2 organizations activity together connected a federally funded quality trafficking task force. Taylor Cook, nan Nampa Family Justice Center’s quality trafficking task unit manager, said she’s visited nan program’s safe houses respective times. Cook and Barthelmess co-facilitate group sessions for COBS clients, held successful nan agency abstraction shared pinch ACTS, according to Barthelmess.

The national assistance money, for illustration nan backing administered by nan Idaho Council connected Domestic Violence and Victim Assistance, comes pinch rules prohibiting conflicts of interest and ensuring customer confidentiality, outlined by nan U.S. Department of Justice. But nan memorandum of knowing betwixt COBS and nan Nampa Family Justice Center seems to cook COBS’ imaginable conflict of liking pinch ACTS into nan statement itself, stating that lawsuit guidance provided by COBS is “funded by ACTS and medicaid reimbursement.”

Cook said nary survivors person ever raised concerns aliases submitted a title to her astir COBS.

“We person not navigated thing that has warranted interest connected our extremity astatine this point. And if we did, we would reside it,” she said.

Cook besides emphasized to InvestigateWest successful an email consequence that nan halfway does not administer aliases oversee immoderate of COBS’ funding.

“They simply supply services, on pinch galore different MOU partners, that we compensate utilizing assistance dollars allocated for that circumstantial service,” Cook wrote.

The memorandum of knowing specifies that nan Nampa Family Justice Center is responsible for collecting information that “measures nan effectiveness of nan grant-funded activities, assistance advancement and financial reporting.” Additionally, a moving statement betwixt nan halfway and COBS signed successful March 2023 says nan halfway “agrees to beryllium responsible for nan capacity of nan task work” regarding nan grant.

“From our experience, COBS has been a really proactive partner,” Cook said. “They person been providing galore services to victims and survivors, and from what I person heard, it has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Other anti-trafficking advocates, however, person based on that nan Nampa Family Justice Center itself has surgery rules that travel nan national dollars.

In October 2022, Cook, Barthelmess and a Nampa constabulary detective, Chad Benson, presented astatine an yearly convention successful Boise hosted by nan Governor’s Task Force connected Children astatine Risk. After nan conference, Zielinski pinch nan Idaho Anti-Trafficking Coalition submitted a title to nan Idaho Attorney General’s Office astir nan presentations. The presenters had shared individual accusation astir victims who were trying to hide from their traffickers, including specifications astir victims’ stories, their aesculapian injuries and their children, and had included photos of victims successful nan presentations, nan title says. The Nampa Family Justice Center utilized nan assistance money to salary Barthelmess astir $160 for training she provided nan time of nan conference, an invoice shows.

Barthelmess continues denying and discrediting nan complaints.

“There’s ever going to beryllium disgruntled victims. There’s ever going to beryllium victims that person terrible intelligence illness,” Barthelmess said. “This is conscionable portion of immoderate system, and it’s OK.”

In interviews pinch InvestigateWest, she many times unopen down InvestigateWest’s questions astir really nan authorities money was utilized by saying she didn’t cognize really nan backing of COBS worked.

Pressed connected a imaginable conflict of liking pinch ACTS and connected nan measurement nan institution billed safe location residents’ insurance, she again declined to answer.

“This is why nan funders said to beryllium observant successful speaking pinch you guys,” Barthelmess said.

She wouldn’t opportunity which funders gave nan warning.

InvestigateWest is an independent news nonprofit dedicated to investigative publicity successful nan Pacific Northwest. Reach news and investigations editor Wilson Criscione astatine wilson@invw.org. Reach investigative newsman Kelsey Turner astatine kelsey@invw.org.