On Monday, August 28th, a female patient detoxing from alcohol died while taking a nap. Matthew Boyle, LR CEO, was in Ohio that week. We left the Medicaid Facilitry of Cleveland by LR as soon as he heard about the death and headed to the Willard facility. The patient was pronounced dead at the hospital. The patient hadn’t been prescribed any medication for withdrawal. The patient scored no higher than ten on her CIWA. The CIWA-AR allows physicians to measure the severity of patients’ alcohol withdrawal syndrome, and thus prevent further health complications and treat the withdrawal syndrome accordingly.
Landmark has ruled this death as a neurological seizure. It appears the death is still being investigated. The police report of the incident hasn’t been posted online yet. I know that some investigations take time to be conducted. I wonder if the coroner awaits the surveillance tapes before completing the investigation.
Matty is back in Willard today. I was told he is addressing the city council tonight. I hope that they ask him about the death and the ongoing investigation.
Shortly after LR laid off employees on March 3rd, 2023, Landmark entered into a sponsorship with race car driver Madison Snyder. While it’s normal for a business to have various sponsorships, this case is different. Madison is LR’s Chief Revenue Officer, CRO Justin Hartman’s niece. Landmark sponsoring Madison is not only blatant nepotism, but Madison is promoting her uncle’s company. I cannot find any disclosure stating Madison’s affiliated with a Landmark employee.
I contacted Madison’s management company to inquire if they were comfortable having their client affiliated with a business under multiple investigations. I am still waiting to hear back. Nepotism is nothing new to LR. Clifford Boyle is the company’s president, and his son, Matty “Bunny” Boyle, is the CEO. Matty’s stepfather, Michael Walsh, is the Clinical Outreach for LR. In fact, Madison’s dad is also employed by LR. His role is to find patients to be admitted into the Battle Creek facility.
Since Landmark entered this sponsorship with Madison, Landmark has laid off, furloughed, and let countless employees go. Some employees weren’t given a severance package. I hear Landmark is having issues with payroll or making the current severance payments. Madison’s race season ends on October 8th. Time will tell if her sponsorship gets renewed. Landmark may no longer operate in Michigan by the start of the next racing season.
Michael Walsh is related to CEO Matthew Boyle and Director of Clinical Outreach for LR. August 31st is National Overdose Awareness Day, and Landmark put out a video to commemorate the day. While Landmark does this every year, it was ill-timed this year with all of the news surrounding the deaths and criminal investigations. Several former employees, myself included, and an admin for a Facebook group posted comments calling out LR. Michael decided to way in by saying, Makes me so F ing mad sometimes when I see ignorant people act like they are experts.” The Facebook admin and I are those “ignorant people.” Michael doubled down by replying to me with, “… you don’t know me, you saw me in a couple of zoom meetings-grow up and get a job.” I attempted to reply but I was blocked from the LR Facebook page. I was able to get screenshots prior to being blocked.
The Facebook admin tagged Michael in a post asking about the “ignorant people,” comment. Michael trippled down with the following comment, “… I’m referring to you and Jason specifically. Keep acting like High school kids – I’m sure you’ll make a great difference in the world. Today is overdose awareness day but I guess everyday is attack LR Day. How many treatment centers have you run? How many have you visited? How many Sentinel events have you experienced or investigated? Keep doing what you do…I’m sure you think your helping” I am sorry, Michael, that Landmark is finally being held accountable for the years of issues inside the facilities. The only people I know acting like they are still stuck in high school are in positions of Executive Directors and on the C-suite team. I have heard employees talking about people and patients behind their backs, constantly backstabbing, and playing games, all while towing the company line.
Michael wasn’t done and wanted to discredit me, “It’s not a PR stunt, it’s something Landmark has done since they started and your friend Jason seemed fine with what Landmark was doing and how they operated when he was on the payroll…you don’t find that suspect?” Michael wasn’t done. He replied with, “my reputation isn’t on the line because I take responsibility for my actions and decisions like a person in recovery is supposed to- in all my affairs. If you think you haven’t made comments that are totally opinion and little fact then you don’t spend enough time reading what you write and I’m not talking specifically about posts related to landmark. I’ll give you one little example of an opinion post – someone asked about why treatment centers take phones away and “I heard it’s to keep people against their will” was a fan favorite of your sycophants. Not one mention of the cameras that can take photos and be shared breaking people’s anonymity. How about people being distracted in Group or individual therapy? I can list at least 10 good clinical reason why people shouldn’t have phones in treatment but you and your fans wouldn’t really care about little things like that I imagine. we will agree to disagree…I have a vested interest in landmark just like every other program I’ve seen and that any other employee should have and I will wait until the facts come out wether in Landmarks favor or not because that’s what our justice system allows for in America. I’ll have no problem taking blame if I’ve done something wrong. I’ve got nothing to hide; my reputation will be judged by the people I respect and it won’t be on Facebook. You just keep doing what you do and I’ll do the same but if you think you’ve got some ownership on some moral high ground here maybe your the one who needs to take a look in the mirror.”
Here is my reply to Michael, “Wow, Michael Walsh, you brought a gun to a knife fight. I worked remotely as the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Manager. I worked remotely and only visited the home office twice for two-day stretches. I wasn’t privy to what was transpiring in the facilities. If I had known, I would have tendered my resignation and blown the whistle. I was unaware of an issue until Kyle Johnston posted in this group. I alerted my boss, Lisa Slate, as I knew that this matter needed to be investigated and addressed. Lisa Slate said that the ED was promoted to run PCLE when they never should have. They screwed up badly at their previous facility. I was privy to the issue of how Lisa could only pay vendors at the end of each month. The payment was all going to be resolved by selling several properties. The only legal issue I knew about was the private Christian school suing to stop Landmark. I was in the dark about the evil happening in facilities. It wasn’t until Friday, July 14th, that I was alerted to the deaths at Mishawaka that I started looking into Landmark. I spent my Saturday investigating Landmark and the comments being posted. When I saw that a C-suite employee made a joke about people being raped, I knew I had to do something—really referring to PSBN as Please Bend Me Over. That’s disgusting. What’s worse is that IT pulled the video and allowed anybody who wanted to watch it. I have been exposed to how evil Landmark is in the seven weeks since I started this website. You have staff sleeping with patients, trafficking drugs, teaching patients how to dissemble light bulbs to smoke drugs, staff raping patients and other staff, black mold in showers, fist fights, assaults, and at least one riot. I know of emergency exits being bolted shut, doors not properly closing, low staff counts, and being numbered by patients. I know about overdoses not being reported and how it was the standard operating procedure to prevent staff from dialing 911 or how staff was instructed not to turn over a patient’s belongings, cell phones, and wallets when they tried to leave on their own and against the staff’s recommendations. I know about patients being stuck at the airport because their credit cards failed. I know about employees embezzling money on multiple occasions. I know about staff and nurses stealing and using drugs. I know about the unpaid vendors and bills. I never knew about any of this and never signed up for it. I have been respectful, and you cannot have an adult conversation without name-calling. Once you start name-calling, you lose the argument. You called Melissa and me ignorant and high-school kids. You told me to grow up and get a job. Exposing and bringing down LR is my full-time job. LR is the poster child for everything that is wrong in the industry. I will make sure that NAATP and FARR know about what’s really happening inside of Landmark. How would you like me to know? You can keep playing checkers, and I will play chess. I am more intelligent than you; you proved it for all to see. You think you got me, but all you do is admit that I worked for LR. You didn’t burn me like you thought you did. I have had better trolls than this. This is a 12-round fight, and we just started round two. Can you go all 12 rounds with me? I predict a KO in round 5. Then we will see who needs to grow, son.”
Michael only seems to focus on the deaths or incidents at Mishawaka. Mishawaka is not an isolated incident. The incidents I refer to happened at other facilities, and some happened at multiple facilities in different states. Landmark employees have relapsed from the stress they experienced while employed. I know of at least one employee who committed suicide. Current employees are walking on eggshells, wondering if they will be let go. This is a company in full chaos, with no end in sight. So excuse me, Michael, before you accuse me, take a look at yourself.
Yesterday, August 28th, several employees were informed that September 2nd or 4th would be their last day with LR. One of those employees is currently being furloughed. While this employee was on furlough, Landmark posted two job positions on Indeed. The two positions were posted four and five days ago. Why couldn’t this employee keep their job and take one of these two positions? Were they even offered one of these positions? What is interesting is that one job offer mentions the benefits, which were slashed, and the other one doesn’t
Landmark’s Morale is Low
Landmark was done a number on their employees. Morale is at an all-time low. Morale dropped drastically after the sixty to seventy employees were laid off on Friday, March 3rd. The employees named it Black Friday. The morale has gotten worse in the past two months. Employees are dreading opening their inbox to see what horror message awaits them. Is it another Matt Boyle rant where he takes zero responsibility for the issues plaguing Landmark? Will it be another email about payroll issues? Landmark slashed its insurance contributions. People were upset to see that email, and several people gave notice. Will employees receive an email from HR that they are being let go? Will it be another email announcing more people no longer with the company? Employees are scared, and they have every right to be. Employees are being let go in droves. There are only a handful of people whose jobs will always be safe. If you are worried about your job, you are not one of those people. Time will tell when the next batch of layoffs hits and who is out of a job.
The complaints listed below were requested via the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA. These are just three of the countless complaints filed with the Ohio Board of Mental Health. Each complaint was forwarded to LR to investigate the complaint. Landmark investigating is like allowing the police to police themselves or allowing the church to investigate claims of sexual abuse. The following three claims are for the Medicaid Facilitry of Cleveland by LR in Euclid, Oh. The first two complaints are summaries of the original complaint.
The following complaint alleges that there was insurance fraud. This patient claims that they were on 15 medications. The patient mentioned constant fighting and being roomed with a “suicidal” patient with access to knives.
Complaint Filed: 03/16/2022
LR – Euclid, Ohio
Patient checked herself into the facility on 03/01/2022, signing all paperwork and presenting her belongings. Patient reported constant fighting, resulting in the police constantly being called. The patient shared a room with an individual that always stated she was “suicidal” and that the facility was unsupervised, leaving the roommate access to knives, etc. The patient did not feel safe and wanted to leave the facility. After 45 minutes of waiting for her belongings to be returned, she was presented with her suitcase. Upon review of the contents, most of her items were missing. Instead of staying in the facility, she opted to come in daily to be treated. She waited 1 hour and 45 minutes, and finally questioned what was going on. The employee for Landmark informed her they had written directions for her. She had 15 medications on the sheet that the patient never took. The patient was prescribed medications for sinuses, but she hadn’t been seen by a doctor. She did call Caresource and reported fraud.
After Landmarks “investigation” took place, they indicated the individual left and was upset about the policies of the agency, and that those policies are being addressed in another complaint. Complaint closed.
This case was “investigated” by Landmark, and it was deemed that the patient filed it because they were upset about policies.
The next complaint again alleges fights every other day. This complaint also alleges commissions lying to patients to get them into the facility.
Complaint Filed: 05/18/2022
LR – Euclid, Ohio
Patient was a transgender woman, and veteran, promised safety due to her transgender status. She was told no men would be allowed in her area. While undressing, an approximate 6’4, 220 pound male entered her room, started a fight, and threatened her. She was denied the ability to call police or her advocate for human trafficking. In her complaint, she stated “there were predators in the building, women were not safe and fist fights occurred every other day. She is currently working with a LGBTQ+ attorney to address these concerns more fully.
After Landmarks “investigation” took place, they indicated part of the complaint was substantiated, the majority of the complaint was unfounded, based on a review of the internal investigation conducted by the agency.
What part of the complaint was unfounded, and what part was founded?
The following complaint is not a summary and is the full complaint. This complaint appears to be from an employee based on the information shared.
Complaint Filed: 05/10/2022
LR – Euclid, Ohio
It is imperative that you know this message is written in good faith in the hopes that it will be distributed to the individuals who will immediately take action to these serious issues. I am terrified that a client is going to die in this recovery center. Last week a client cut his wrists and was rushed to the Emergency Room. The next day after several attempts of asking for help a client hung himself in the client restroom, thank God another client walked in and was able to save him, 911 was called. These are just 2 incidents.
Violations are as follow:
HIPPA LAWS
FALSE ADVERTISING (services not rendered)
GROSS NEGLECT (no necessities for clients, hygiene products, linen, lack of food, no cleaning supplies etc..)
DISCRIMINATION
MEDICAID FRAUD (billing for services & medication never rendered or received)
LR is not a dual diagnosis center, nor qualified to handle mentally disabled clientele. Yet administration or should I say sales, is a disgrace. These clients are lied to from the beginning. The website, brochures, administration are all mendacious.
LR does NOT have a detox unit. Clients are placed wherever there is a bed available. Not once does a nurse go to a client’s room, the PES take care of the client of their own free will and empathy. The withdrawals, vomit and diarrhea. Some go 3 days without receiving medication. Some of which was brought in with them, Blood pressure, diabetes etc.
Nor does Landmark have food for clients with special diets. Up until 3 weeks ago Nurses were sharing BP machine, thermometer & oximeter. Which were not accurate. Clients are ill because of High Blood Pressure and sugar levels. Some rushed to ER because of faulty reading. These clients are NOT taken care of. GROSS NEGLECT & CONDUCT.
There have been several days with zero snacks provided, many many days where the kitchen runs out food, yet staff are being fed? Last week on family day they ran out of food for visitors , complete embarrassment. For weeks now clients have been eating on paper products because dishwasher has been down. Never enough drinks for them either. Clients walk out of nurses rooms with medication still in mouth to pass on to others
Landmark promises one on one counseling and therapy. Many clients are on week 3 and have yet to see anyone.
The list goes on & on. I am doing my moral obligation in reporting this. I cannot sit back & do nothing. I could not live with myself.
I myself am in recovery & believe recovery places are needed in our area. This is not a recovery center. Spend a day in these units & ask yourself, would I send my child here. THE ANSWER WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!!´
After Landmarks “investigation” took place, they indicated the allegations are unfounded based on internal investigation conducted by agency. No issues identified. Closed Complaint.
Here is another example where a dishwasher has been broken, I have heard about several facilities needing more food and supplies. How were these claims unfounded? How is the Ohio Board of Mental Health not doing its due diligence and conducting its own investigation? Is this a lack of resources and incompetence, or is there a reason that they are looking the other way? I will share all of the complaints filed in Ohio against LR.
Is the pressure getting to the C-suite staff? Tia Conard posted her frustration on Facebook. Tia is mistaken if she believes we are channeling our frustration to destroy LR. Tia, people brought up the issues you were involved with at the Landmark facilities. Several people have told me you looked the other way and refused to listen to security complaints and concerns. I can’t believe the audacity you have to claim that you want to help people get sober. If this were the case, you would have helped improve the facilities’ conditions. I don’t understand how you were promoted to Regional VP of Operations. You got demoted down to becoming Executive Director for SDF and PSDF.
This is precisely why LR is in the mess that they are in. They demoted the three Regional VPs of Operations. One quit, while Nicole Carter and Tia were demoted to Executive Directors. Neither Nicole nor Tia should have kept their jobs when staff was laid off on Friday, March 3rd, 2023, aka Black Friday. Both ladies talk about employees behind their backs and backstab people. The only reason that they are still employed is because they tow the company line.
Landmark has been going downhill because people who could have brought about positive changes were roadblocks. Several former employees have come forward because they cared about helping people battling addiction. I hear daily about employees being laid off, terminated, or furloughed. The Medicaid Facilitry of Cleveland by LR facility is dangerously close to having staffed furloughed. The Census is extremely low. If they drop below 20 patients, employees will be furlouged. If this is the case, why is Landmark hiring for ten positions? The jobs were all posted two days ago.
Nobody finds it funny that people are losing jobs and health care benefits. The Indeed job postings talk about the benefits that are gone. Employees can’t opt out of their insurance because it’s not an open enrollment period. Employees are stuck paying the increased insurance cost since Landmark decreased its contribution. Landmark treats its employees the same way they treat their patients poorly.
Tia, you had a chance to be a hero and blew it. Landmark is being held accountable for the years of issues that were ignored. The employees who spoke up were let go. Please don’t play the oh woah is my card; that’s nonsense. You drank the Kool-Aid and were part of the problem. People came to Landmark to help people; patients came to get better. Instead, patients were using drugs, staff were sleeping with patients, and facilities ran out of supplies and medication. Even employees raised these concerns when Clifford Boyle addressed employees; these questions were ignored. How many of those people are no longer employed at Landmark?
On Tuesday, July 18th, an “emotional” Clifford Boyle attempted to address employees regarding the issues at Mishawaka. I placed emotional in quotations because Clifford went from crying to talking about finances in the blink of an eye. Several people felt that the crying was fake or insincere. I watched the video, and I agree with people’s impressions. Instead of focusing on fixing the current facilities, Clifford stressed how the company was planning on rapid growth.
Haley Arsenault asked staff watching the video to message Elizabeth Mattson any questions they want Clifford to answer. That request was ignored as employees kept calling the company out and highlighting issues at facilities. The chat quickly grew beyond control, with relevant questions being asked.
Several Landmark employees stepped in. Robbie Becker was the first to weigh in. He asked that anybody who reports to him email him, and he would pass the questions along to Elizabeth.
Alvin Luster chastized the employees as disrespectful as Clifford poured his heart out. Really Alvin? Employees ask why staffing is so low or why nursing staffing is being cut. People are fighting for the safety of staff and patients, and you consider those questions disrespectful?
Employees raised questions about how admissions lied to patients. Patients were told repeatedly that LR has a pool and spa. No LR facility has a pool. I covered several issues with admission previously. John Hood said he listened to the admissions calls personally and never heard any admissions people lie to patients. Somebody is lying; is it the countless staff members or John Hood? If I were a betting man, I know where I’d put my money.
My favorite comment came from Nicole Carter. Nicole asks people to stop asking questions and raising issues as it’s not “productive.” Nothing will if this doesn’t convey to you what kind of a company LR is. The questions about safety were constantly ignored. Landmark wouldn’t be in the position they currently find themselves in had they done the right thing from the start. There is no saving LR. Too many people look the other way or can’t address the company’s deep-rooted issues. I await Matt Boyle running for President of the United States.
I have had two people advise me that there are safety issues at Medicaid Facilitry of the Firelands by LR in Willard, OH. Both individuals reported that the sewer water backed up and flowed into the hallways. Nobody mopped it up, and the water was allowed to dry independently. There is black mold in the showers. Instead of addressing the black mold, the mold is being covered up to pass a health inspection.
The dishwasher broke, and the facility uses paper plates to serve meals. Landmark is unable to pay to have the dishwasher fixed. I want to know who pays for the paper plates since Landmark can’t pay its bills. I can’t see buying paper plates as being financially sound.
I also heard that several rooms don’t have working air conditioning. I have heard that this also happened at the Mishawaka facility. The bottom line is that Landmark allows the properties to become run down and fail to maintain them. Black mold is a safety concern and causes health issues. All health departments need to conduct complete inspections of all facilities. They need to check all emergency exits and doors to ensure no safety concerns.
LR hires people like men who use Tinder, anybody with a pulse. An employee at the Mishawaka facility was arrested on Tuesday, July 25th, for having two open warrants. The first open warrant was from February 2016, and the second was from August 2023. Some might claim this is an isolated incident, but it’s not.
Please meet Tyler Jacobson. Tyler stated he had just driven 20 hours to get to Franklin, TN, to start his new job as an admission counselor. As police searched the vehicle, they discovered a syringe, heroin wrapped up in a napkin, close to an ounce of black tar Heroin laced with fentanyl, and eight ball of crystal meth, tainted with fentanyl, cocaine, and Xanax pills. Before my employment at Landmark, I had to complete a drug test. I find it hard to believe that Tyler would have passed a drug test.
LR hired this unnamed deaf employee at their LR of Indianapolis. This unnamed ex-employee was identified for texting with someone he believed to be a 15-year-old girl. He drove over an hour to meet this person at a convenience store at night. He was met by the nonprofit group PCM: Predator Catchers Muncie.
At another unnamed facility, an employee was hired after they assaulted a woman. I was advised that this man took a woman outside and sexually assaulted her. On another occasion, this employee ended up partying with two women and another male, and they took turns assaulting the women.
It wasn’t just the patients that committed the rapes and sexual assaults. I question LR’s commitment to the safety of its staff and patients. All you need is a high school diploma to get hired. Any warm body will do the trick, it seems.
On July 25th, I received the following email from Concerned Citizen.
Matty and the company are being held accountable for the years of issues. I have spoken with over 30 former employees. They all share similar stories to the events that transpired in Mishawaka. LR wouldn’t be in this boat had they done the right thing in the first place and addressed the safety concerns. Management refused to terminate employees that had sexual relations with patients.
This morning, August 10th, I woke up to another email from Concerned Citizen.
I need to move on with my life. Being a consumer advocate is my life. I don’t fix Google reviews, for the heck of it. I removed fake Google reviews to protect consumers. My website Review Fraud lists businesses with fake reviews, and I need to add LR due to the employees that left Google reviews. You will not stop or scare me away from this project. I have had death threats, trolls, and countless threats of being sued. I still live rent-free in their heads, just like I am with you.
On July 30th, I received the following email four times.
If you start your email by telling me you are not affiliated with LR, chances are you are. I never worked at the facilities. I did raise my concerns when I saw Kyle Johnston’s story about the issues in the Cleveland facility. I would also forward the negative reviews to my boss so somebody could investigate the complaint. Please don’t accuse me of being part of the problem when I had limited information on the issues at these facilities. I have yet to visit one in person. I am not angry and know what I am doing to help. In the final weeks in Mishawaka, Landmark refused to allow patients to talk on the phone or watch the news. They prevented family members from contacting their loved ones.
