Written by Christa Motley

II. VARR Secures Millions; VARR Leaders Among Top Beneficiaries

As explained in the Introduction of this series, the Virginia Association of Recovery Residences (VARR) is a small Richmond-based nonprofit charged with certifying and overseeing Virginia recovery homes on behalf of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) – a state government agency.

With much of VARR’s efforts focused on securing public funding, VARR has also become the administrator for millions of dollars designated to support recovery house operators across the state. In 2020, VARR reported total revenue of just $165,000. Its revenue skyrocketed to $2.1 million in 2021 and an estimated $6.6 million in 2022 – made up almost entirely of state and federal funding that flows to VARR through DBHDS.

Recovery community leaders throughout the state say funding for recovery housing and peer support services has been long overdue. But with little oversight or transparency, VARR funding has been largely hoarded in Richmond and funneled to organizations that benefit VARR officials – namely, David Rook, Anthony Grimes and Jimmy Christmas. (Refer to the Introduction for a review of key players.)

Imagine the Freedom Center

Just after VARR secured its first round of legislatively directed funding, Rook, the Grimeses and Christmas set out to jointly grow their businesses and bring their headquarters together under one roof.

In April 2021, they purchased 2604 N. Parham Road in Henrico County through Imagine the Freedom Properties, LLC – a newly formed company they owned through their respective recovery organizations along with lobbyist David Hallock Jr. and state Delegate Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico – a VARR ally.

Commonly referred to as “The Center,” this building is home to the network of LLCs and nonprofits that serve the business interests of Rook, the Grimeses and Christmas.

In July 2021, VARR obtained funding through DBHDS to renovate and furnish the building ($75,715).

The following month, Rook and the Grimeses formed Imagine the Freedom Recovery Foundation – a nonprofit that would be used to employ shared staff for True Recovery and WAR Foundation. A few weeks later, VARR successfully solicited $270,000 from DBHDS to hire three peer specialists for Imagine the Freedom Recovery Foundation and another three for McShin Foundation.

VARR did not obtain similar funding on behalf of any other organization.1

It is unknown if DBHDS officials knew three VARR leaders stood to personally benefit from the taxpayer dollars VARR acquired. Their financial interests were not disclosed in VARR’s funding applications, and DBHDS did not respond to questions on the matter.

Correspondence from the following year indicated Will Harris in the DBHDS finance department connected the dots on his own when VARR attempted to pay $6,000 in rent to Imagine the Freedom Properties through Imagine the Freedom Recovery Foundation. This was on top of the rent DBHDS was already paying for VARR’s office space.2

To date, the $6,000 rent payment is the only VARR expenditure I found that was disallowed by DBHDS due to a conflict of interest.

Delegate Bagby told me he didn’t know public funds were used for rent or improvements on the property. He said he invested in the building to help the recovery community and has “not received one dollar” from it.

Indigent Funding

Through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to DBHDS, I obtained VARR’s expenditure reports through June 2022. Over the 1.5-year period from January 2021 to June 2022, VARR distributed roughly $2.84 million to its members for indigent services: money designated to increase access to recovery housing and support services for people who could not otherwise afford it.

Funding was disbursed across three categories of indigent services:

  1. Bed Fees: the cost of rent for people living in a recovery house
  2. 28/30 Day Program Services: vaguely defined as intensive programs including recovery related activities, support groups, and recovery plans
  3. Addiction Management: vaguely defined as professional services

Indigent funding – almost all of which has been legislatively directed for VARR “members” – flows through DBHDS to the VARR office. From there, it is entirely up to VARR to inform its members that the funds exist and to distribute them fairly. According to DBHDS Office Of Recovery Services Director Mark Blackwell, “DBHDS does not get involved with how VARR allocates funds amongst the certified recovery residences.”

Although VARR is based in the Richmond area, it is a statewide organization charged with expanding access to quality recovery residences throughout Virginia. But with VARR in control of both recovery residence certification and management of state funding for certified members, 98.6% of the indigent funding has been distributed to Richmond-area organizations.

Over $1 million was distributed to the for-profit entities that benefit Rook and Grimes. Another $366,275 was paid to Journey House – owned by Christmas’ and Rook’s business partner, Michael Tillem.3

Link to expenditure calculations

Eighty percent (80%) of the money went to operators with representation in VARR leadership.

McShin, REAL Life, and Caritas are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. VARR board members’ affiliations with these nonprofits do present conflicts of interest that may give their organizations unfair advantages over others. However, I have not found evidence to suggest the board members associated with these nonprofits personally benefit from their leadership positions with VARR. If anyone has information to the contrary, please contact me.

The following analysis applies only to fiscal year 2022 (7/1/21 – 6/30/22), as indigent funding distributions were not broken down by category before that time.

During FY22, there were at least 23 operators with VARR-certified recovery residences. 

(Dec. 2023 update: During FY22, there were at least 27 operators with VARR-certified recovery residences.)4

15 received indigent bed funding ($1,713,229).

6 received program funding ($798,500).

6 received addiction management funding ($52,500).5

VARR’s funding agreements with DBHDS through FY22 specified VARR would distribute indigent bed funding based on the percentage of certified beds each organization had out of the VARR total. This system, by VARR’s design, has enabled Rook and Grimes to direct large portions of funding to the companies that benefit them. While VARR has been slow to expand its membership, Rook and the Grimeses fast-tracked their own business growth over the last several years. Their portfolios – and therefore total bed counts – include multiple “step-up” houses, which do not typically house people in need of indigent funding. Step-up houses are designated for residents who have some level of sustained recovery, employment, and the ability to pay their own rent. Having these homes contribute to their total bed counts drives a higher percentage of funding to their organizations proportional to their indigent populations.

Even with these built-in advantages, it is questionable whether the bed counts of the most heavily funded organizations outnumber other VARR operators to the extent represented above. (Dec. 2023 edit: New information confirms that the bed counts of the most heavily funded organizations did not outnumber other VARR operators to the extent represented in the funding distributions, according to numbers VARR provided to DBHDS. These figures will be included with the next update on VARR spending.)

At least eight VARR operators did not receive indigent bed funds at all. Reasonable explanations were found for why some of them were excluded. For example, one is a community service board that receives separate funding from DBHDS, and another operates a step-up house where residents are expected to pay rent.

The reasons others were excluded or scarcely funded were not clear.

After speaking with seven smaller operators, I learned that VARR members have some hoops to jump through before VARR considers them eligible for funding.

VARR uses a program called Rec-Cap to collect data on residents in VARR-certified houses. According to several operators, Rec-Cap participation is required as a condition of receiving indigent bed funds. This means operators must adopt a new data management system and hand over their client data to VARR on an ongoing basis – not just data on the residents who need financial assistance.6

Rec-Cap was not mentioned as a requirement for indigent bed funding in any agreement VARR had with DBHDS during FY22.7 For example, per Contract No. 720-4842:

Operators who demonstrated Rec-Cap participation to VARR’s satisfaction were eligible for a quarterly award. For the operators that made it that far, some reported they subsequently had to apply to access their awarded funds on a resident-by-resident basis. Two operators said they had submitted requests for reimbursement that had not yet been paid. Another operator who was fed up with the system described it as “a lot of red tape.”

Rook said he was not aware of a VARR policy that required operators to apply for indigent bed funds. He explained how True Recovery draws from its award to illustrate how the system allegedly works across the board:

Say (VARR says), ‘True Recovery, you got $40,000 for the quarter. … What happens is we go into a screen. Say we want to put Christa on scholarship. We’ll go in, we’ll type Christa’s name in … we’ll start her date on this, and we’ll stop her date on this. Then there’s two switches. So, it’ll be ARPA funds, General Assembly funds or whatever funding stream it is. Then you just click it, and it counts the days, deducts the money.

Anthony Grimes and Sarah Scarbrough did not respond when asked about VARR’s process for awarding and administering indigent bed funds. They also did not respond to a request for comment on why only 15 operators received indigent bed funds during the year. As of today, it remains unanswered why some VARR operators report obstacles to obtaining these funds, whereas others, like True Recovery, just click a button.

Smaller VARR operators in both Richmond and underserved areas of the state have sometimes had to turn people away due to lack of funding. Kim Adams is the co-founder of Recovering Hands, a nonprofit recovery home for women in the rural community of Nathalie. Adams said she received one $500 award from VARR in January 2021 after she paid VARR’s $500 fee to become certified. Almost two years later, as of September 2022, Adams had not received another penny from VARR, despite repeatedly asking the VARR office for help. According to Adams, VARR initially told her she needed to input more client data into the Rec-Cap system before she could qualify for funds. However, after inputting data on the very few clients she had, she still had not received any funding. Adams said she has no choice but to turn women away on a weekly basis due to lack of funding. “It just feels criminal that I cannot get help to help the women who desperately want to turn their lives around.” 

As a small operator, Adams says she cannot afford to wait when she requests funding. “When I ask for money, I need it right then, because somebody needs help.” This is exactly the argument Grimes made to DBHDS when he successfully negotiated upfront funding for VARR. In a Jan. 2021 complaint to DBHDS, the governor’s office, and Delegate Bagby, Grimes wrote:

Organizations in VARR can not afford to provide recovery support services (housing) and wait to bill and receive reimbursement over a month later. Receiving funding in this manner would force organizations to have to refuse someone who is indigent entry into a recovery residence because they are awaiting funding for previous indigent residents to be reimbursed and still have to maintain enough revenue to support expenses thus creating a situation that does not promote equitable access for Virginians (seeking) recovery support services.

Leaning on this argument, VARR has continually received upfront funding for the purpose of providing equitable access to recovery housing, as Grimes described.

While the seven operators I spoke with had different perspectives on VARR’s willingness to provide indigent bed funds, none of them were aware of the depth of VARR’s resources. I asked every operator if they knew VARR had funding for program services. The answer, across the board, was no.

Program services were vaguely defined in two of VARR’s funding agreements with DBHDS as follows.

SFA CSLFRF-VARR22:

Sole Source Contract No. 720-4842:

Six of the seven operators I spoke with said they offer programs for their residents. They described support groups and activities that sounded like the programs provided by True Recovery and WAR Foundation.

Lichele Billups is the founder of A Few Good Roots, a nonprofit that operates a recovery house in Highland Springs. Billups said she provides a full program schedule with curriculum-based activities for her residents, but she was not aware VARR had funding for programs. As a small operator, Billups said it’s hard to compete with the “big names” for funding. “I need VARR because I’m so small.”

The six operators that received exclusive access to program funds included three organizations with representation on the VARR board, an organization owned by the VARR executive director’s wife, an organization owned by Christmas and Rook’s business partner, and another Richmond operator in their network:

I asked Rook about the reason for this.

Why did (program funds) only go to six organizations?

From discussions I remember, because they’re the only ones that already previously had or offered or sold programs. I think one of the requirements is that you had to have brick and mortar. You had to have a physical location where different services are offered. So that was the main reason. Those were the only places that were already doing that. So, people could go out and develop and get a place. Starfish is able to tap into that now because they’ve got a location and they offer services there.

How did you guys know then (who had programs)? I talked to seven operators. Six of them said that they have programs, and they didn’t know anything about program funding. Nobody asked them. They didn’t know how to apply. 

They don’t have a brick-and-mortar building (separate from the recovery houses). Or they haven’t ever showed it to VARR, I’d be willing to bet. … Can’t offer it in the (recovery) house because if you’re offering a program in the house, you’re breaking the rules. You can’t offer services in a recovery home.

You can’t offer services?  Not peer groups?

You can (offer) peer groups, but you can’t do other outside services inside a house. But part of that (was) to keep everybody from doing a money grab, I think, from everybody saying, ‘Oh we got a program,’ was saying, look, if they’ve already got an established program or they got something they can show us to lay it out on the table for us (then they’re eligible for the program funding).

So, did VARR ever send out an announcement or anything to let an organization make their case for why they have a program?

If they didn’t have a brick-and-mortar building, they probably didn’t get notified. I don’t know.

You see where I’m going with that though, right?

I do, but you see where if we just announced, then everybody’s going to have a fucking program … I think the intent was that people were doing programming and that we wanted to be able to help people get access to those programs. …

(Did) other people actually sell any programs before that? Because you might make the argument that, say that somebody like Roads 2 Recovery has a program. But do they sell a program? Do they ever collect money for a program, or would it just be something that’s a money grab? They’ll get a couple thousand dollars for something they already do.

Do you not think it’s a conflict that the people who are deciding where the money goes are the same ones saying, ‘We have programs, but nobody else does?’

You can spin it into a conflict. You can make the perception.

You don’t think it is?

No, because I think we know better than anybody who actually has programs. …

Do I think that they should have access to it if they have a program? Yes, they probably should. Is it something as simple as them reaching out to the VARR office and saying, ‘We have a program,’ and establishing that with VARR? Probably.

But if they don’t even know that VARR has funding for that, why would they reach out and say, ‘Hey, we have a program?’

I’m not sure why they wouldn’t know that. If they join the monthly calls for VARR, maybe they would know. Maybe if they participated. I don’t know, and I don’t know that that’s a sufficient answer. I just don’t know. I think that it would be the responsibility to get that out there. And again, I would say this money didn’t exist 2 years ago. A lot of what’s being done is being done for the first time. Do I think that there’s anything shady going on? Absolutely not. Anybody being left out intentionally? No. Anybody giving extra money to their buddies? No.

I reached out to the other five operators that received an exclusive share of program funds. Only one chose to comment. John Shinholser, president and co-founder of McShin Foundation, made no apologies for the amount of money McShin received from VARR. Shinholser said he spent 18 years advocating for indigent bed funds at the General Assembly. He added, as the only organization in Virginia accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Peer Recovery Support Services (CAPRSS), he believes McShin offers the highest quality services for the money the organization receives. At the same time, Shinholser said it was “disgraceful” and “unethical” that other operators did not have the opportunity to apply for program funds.

The VARR website has a page dedicated to membership benefits. “Access to government funding” is not included on the list. 

“Every Piece of Dollar Goes to Serve a Person”

At the October 2022 NARR Best Practices Summit, Grimes presented on a panel titled, “VARR How We Did It (Part 2).” Grimes stated:

Money doesn’t come to VARR for the organizations. Money comes to VARR to allot to the organizations to serve people. Every piece of dollar goes to serve a person, not an organization.

However, VARR designed its indigent reimbursement model to yield generous profit margins.

The standard daily rate for bed fees in a recovery house is $20. VARR reimburses at $30 and $40, depending on the funding source. According to VARR board meeting minutes from March 2022, the average number of residents in a VARR certified house is 11.2. Assuming bed fees are not applied to the house manager, a $40 daily rate would allow an operator to gross $12,240 in bed fees alone for one month at a single house – a figure wildly disproportionate to the cost of rent and utilities at any recovery residence.

According to Rook, the $40 rate was established to cover the processing fee and additional resident needs such as bed sheets, food, and occasional transportation. However, Rook said he did not know if VARR had a policy requiring operators to provide for residents’ additional needs at the $40 rate. Operators in Richmond commonly charge upwards of $4,000 per month to add services such as food and transportation onto the bed fee.

Furthermore, during fiscal year 2022, the four least-funded operators were excluded from the $40 rate altogether.

The 28/30-Day Program Services – which include bed fees, food, transportation, and day program activities – are reimbursed by VARR at $3,500 and $4,500 depending on the funding source. These rates are 213% and 274%, respectively, of VARR’s own cost estimate. For Rook and Grimes, the profit margins are potentially higher, as they run their day programs through Imagine the Freedom – the nonprofit already funded by DBHDS.

True Recovery and WAR Foundation have also used DBHDS funds to replace existing business expenses instead of expanding services, as the funding was provided for them to do. Starting in April 2022, VARR received $840,000 to create peer support positions “across all VARR certified recovery residence organizations.” The budget included full-time and part-time employees across 17 organizations. It allotted two full-time employees for WAR Foundation and four full-time employees for True Recovery (including two at True Recovery’s Eco Flats division). According to VARR’s proposal, the funding would be used to create new staff positions to help the “growing number of individuals with significant barriers to recovery…” But payroll records for the first quarter show True Recovery used its share to pay the modest wages of staff they already had. WAR Foundation has been doing the same with at least one staff position.

Using federal funds to replace existing expenses, or “supplanting,” is strictly prohibited per federal guidelines outlined in VARR’s funding agreement with DBHDS.8 Supplanting allows True Recovery and WAR Foundation to increase profits rather than expand their workforce to better serve their residents. 

Additional examples of VARR funding that flowed to True Recovery and WAR Foundation are available here.

Capacity Expansion Funds

For the 10-month period from September 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, VARR received $1,012,000 “to expand recovery support services across the Commonwealth focusing on areas with limited housing and recovery supports proportionate to the substance use disorder population.” The award was budgeted as follows:

VARR invested $283,824 in one rural project in Russell County and awarded the remaining reported amount of $509,840 to Richmond operators directly or indirectly benefiting VARR leadership.9

1 – Peter’s Place RVA: $140,000

Peter’s Place is owned by Shauntelle Hammonds, who was a VARR board member when Peter’s Place received this funding. Peter’s Place operates a single recovery house that was previously run by True Recovery. VARR payments to Peter’s Place started shortly before True Recovery became the legal owner of the residence in January 2022. Below is the only expenditure information reported to DBHDS.

Although True Recovery owns the property, Rook said True Recovery did not benefit from these transactions. “We killed a house and profit to help provide Peter’s Place,” he said.

Hammonds did not agree to be interviewed and did not respond to a request for comment.

According to a VARR presentation to the board in May 2022, VARR planned to award Peter’s Place an additional $120,000 during FY23.

2 – Urban Recovery RVA: $96,330 – Owned by VARR board member Jimmy Christmas

Christmas has operated a lucrative conglomerate of clinical practices for many years. And now, with state dollars designated to give minorities equitable access to the industry, Christmas added two recovery residences to his business portfolio, at no cost to himself. 

3 – Supreme Re-Entry Programming and Community Transitional Services: $55,400

According to its website, Supreme Re-Entry sends participants to Christmas at River City, making Supreme Re-Entry another funding recipient that provides financial benefit to a VARR board member.

4 – Starfish Recovery & Wellness: $63,000

Starfish Recovery is owned by Frank and Stephanie Bellanger. In late 2020, prior to receiving VARR funding, Frank Bellanger alerted DBHDS to his concerns about VARR leadership:

After receiving $63,000 for “staffing expansion” on top of exclusive shares of program funding starting mid-2021, Bellanger changed his tune.

He is now an outspoken VARR advocate. In a recent interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Bellanger said VARR “has done a phenomenal job with the distribution and accounting of government funding” and “a fantastic job through the executive director, Anthony Grimes, with the accounting, oversight and just providing a high-quality standard for our residents and clients …”

As of Jan. 2022, Starfish also sends residents to River City, owned by Jimmy Christmas.

The May 2022 presentation to the VARR board indicates VARR will award Starfish an additional $105,000 in FY23 to cover the “staffing (Starfish) received funding for in year one and (to) add (a peer recovery specialist) staff person.”

Bellanger did not agree to be interviewed and did not respond to a request for comment.

5 – Lotus Recovery RVA – $155,110 awarded to brother of state Delegate Bagby

Bagby speaks at the House of Delegates, February 2022.

Bagby represents Virginia’s 74th district in the House of Delegates. He is also chairman of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. Although Bagby is not named as a patron on any bills or budget amendments that supported VARR, several sources and records suggest Bagby has been an instrumental ally of VARR’s in the General Assembly for the past few years.

During FY22, VARR awarded $155,110 for Bagby’s brother, Isiah (“Zekie”) Bagby, to open Lotus Recovery – a recovery residence near Downtown Richmond.

When I spoke with Delegate Bagby in September and December 2022, he described his relationship with VARR as a detached supporter. “I support their work, but when you start asking me the detailed questions about how they accomplish what they do, I have no clue,” he said.

Below is the current available paper trail of Delegate Bagby’s involvement with VARR.

In a December 2020 email to DBHDS, Grimes indicated Delegate Bagby played a significant role in helping VARR secure a $500,000 budget amendment from the General Assembly:

A couple weeks later, VARR’s then-vice president (and current president), Sarah Scarbrough, wrote the following about Delegate Bagby’s involvement in an email to then-Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran.

On January 6, 2021, Grimes emailed a complaint to the governor’s office and to Delegate Bagby, reiterating the above complaints and restating Bagby’s support of VARR.

When I asked Bagby to comment on these emails, he told me he “support(s) the recovery community getting resources from the state to help folks.” He also said, “It wasn’t my budget amendment. … You’re going to have to ask (Grimes) what he was trying to accomplish with that (email).”

At the 2021 NARR Summit, Delegate Bagby and David Rook hosted a Q&A session titled, “Building Relationships between Recovery Home Operators & Legislators.”

Although Delegate Bagby did not attend as planned the following year, he was scheduled to speak at the 2022 NARR Summit in a session titled, “VARR How We Did It (Part 2).”

Below is the only information VARR reported to DBHDS on the expenditures associated with Isiah Bagby’s recovery house.

Isiah Bagby is a former True Recovery participant. As of June 2022, he was reportedly living at the Lotus house and driving a recently purchased Jaguar.

The May 2022 VARR presentation to the board indicates VARR will award Lotus Recovery another $70,202 in FY23 to cover “6 months of costs for year 2.”

Delegate Bagby told me he was not aware that his brother received VARR funding. Isiah Bagby did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, organizations across Virginia were unable to open new recovery homes or had to close existing homes due to lack of funding. Most of the seven small operators I spoke with indicated a general shortage of resources within their organizations or geographic areas. Six of them were not aware VARR had capacity-expansion funding designated to help fill the gaps in resources they described.

The one operator who did know about capacity expansion funding was unable to access it. Kim Adams, operator of Recovering Hands in Nathalie, said she bought a house in South Boston in late 2021 to open a men’s recovery residence. According to Adams, VARR told her she needed to rent a house in order to qualify for funding. When she was unable to find an appropriate house for rent, Adams purchased a home through an LLC. VARR informed her that she was ineligible for funding due to having purchased the home.

Notably, it appears that Jimmy Christmas – who  received $96,330 from VARR to open two recovery homes – did the same thing.

The VARR website lists “Doron” as one of Urban Recovery’s two certified houses.

In January 2022, Urban Recovery RVA, LLC (owned by Christmas) purchased 1708 Doron Lane in Henrico County. Additionally, State Corporation Commission records show 1708 Doron Lane, LLC was formed in January 2022. Christmas is listed as the registered agent.

Despite receiving no financial assistance from VARR, Adams planned to move forward with opening the recovery home. She reported that one week prior to opening, South Boston “decided they did not want a recovery house” in their town and stopped her from opening. Adams said she contacted VARR for help. According to Grimes’ email response, which she read to me over the phone, Grimes wrote that a town cannot ban a recovery residence and suggested a joint phone call with town officials. Adams said the call never happened, and she did not feel supported by VARR. She eventually “ran out of steam and finances” and sold the house. “I needed some clout behind me to fight,” Adams said. But VARR did “nothing” to help her.  

Regina Baker operated one VARR-certified house for women in Glen Allen. In June 2022, Baker said she had to give up the house due to a lack of funding. “I told (Grimes) that I was really going through a lot keeping the house.” She said Grimes did not offer any financial assistance. “I had no idea they could have helped me,” Baker said, adding that “it’s not right” that small operators like herself are often left out of funding opportunities.

Through an unrelated FOIA request to DBHDS, I discovered email correspondence showing that two people seeking funding for recovery residences in rural areas were referred to Anthony Grimes for assistance.

Julia Sichol, commonwealth’s attorney for Westmoreland County, reached out to DBHDS via email in November 2021 to inquire about funding opportunities for starting a recovery residence in her area. Sichol wrote, “One of our greatest problems, especially in rural areas, is a lack of resources. … A constant hurdle for our participants is living in an environment that is not conducive to recovery.” This correspondence was forwarded to Grimes the following day. 

I spoke with Sichol in October 2022. She located Grimes’ response to her from that initial email and read it to me over the phone. Grimes provided general information about VARR certification and offered a meeting to discuss her goals. He did not provide information about funding opportunities. Sichol did not respond to Grimes’ email, but she said, “I definitely would have (responded) if he told me there was some money.” Sichol was never able to open the recovery house in her county. She said funding would not have been the only barrier to overcome, but it was the major barrier that prevented her from moving forward.

In January 2022, Crossroads Community Services Board in Farmville was seeking funding to open a recovery residence. DBHDS referred the agency to Grimes and Mark Blackwell – director of DBHDS’ Office of Recovery Services – for assistance. I was unable to reach a representative of Crossroads, but the agency did not receive funding from VARR. The available emails also suggest they were not informed about VARR’s capacity-expansion funding after meeting with Grimes and Blackwell.

What About the VARR Board?

In theory, a nonprofit’s board of directors safeguards the assets of its organization and ensures resources are used in alignment with its mission. All indicators suggest the VARR board, including the treasurer, has not been empowered to serve this purpose.

One VARR board member, who chose to remain confidential, reported that the board has been left out of major financial decisions. “The VARR office (meaning Anthony Grimes) has the say as to where the money is going,” they said, adding that the board had “no idea” what organizations received capacity expansion funds (roughly $1 million annual budget) until the funding cycle had nearly ended. Rook did not confirm or deny this, but he told me capacity-expansion awards will be vetted by the board moving forward.

Prior to January 2021, VARR’s treasurer was Bob de Triquet. During the last six months he served as treasurer, de Triquet was also a VARR employee who reported to Anthony Grimes. When de Triquet’s term ended in January 2021, Rook successfully nominated April Hutchison, an employee of the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office, to take de Triquet’s place. Rook had prior experience working with Hutchison, as she has approved hundreds of invoices True Recovery submitted to the Sheriff’s Office over the past several years.

The board meeting minutes pertaining to Hutchinson’s nomination are below:

Emails obtained from Chesterfield County showed Hutchison’s involvement in VARR finances consisted of reporting on the minimal information Grimes shared with her prior to board meetings. Without fail, the treasurer’s report at every board meeting included little more than the VARR bank balance, like the example below.

The full list of Treasurer’s Reports is available here.

Almost a year into Hutchison’s tenure as treasurer, she wrote to then-secretary Lynn Taylor that VARR does not give her any financial details, “just the total”:

Hutchison did not respond to a request for comment.

What About DBHDS Oversight?

DBHDS did not agree to be interviewed for this project, but internal emails revealed a history of tension between VARR and DBHDS with regards to procurement procedures and oversight. Amplifying this tension, VARR leaders have established a pattern of quickly escalating demands to their allies in public office. For reasons not entirely clear from available records, VARR has been largely successful in avoiding the level of accountability that seemingly applies to other funding recipients, even as DBHDS staff have identified red flags since at least late 2020.

Link to compilation of emails demonstrating history of VARR-DBHDS tension through May 2022

Through late 2022, Will Harris was the subrecipient contracts specialist overseeing the highest volume of VARR funding. The record shows that Harris, among others at DBHDS, was a consistent advocate for transparency and accountability of public spending. But as he stated via email on May 6, 2022, VARR has been the exception to the department’s process:

(A)s far as non-CSB subrecipients are concerned: VARR is and has been the exception to our process, and frankly, to both agency and federal policies regarding Subrecipient monitoring. …

I’m confident in the working relationships that we have formed with a large majority of our Subrecipients, and generally applaud their openness in disclosing how the funds are being spent while adhering to federal regulation.

VARR seems to have a different approach than the “large majority” of DBHDS subrecipients. 

On April 28, 2022, 14 days past the deadline,10 Grimes submitted VARR’s routine expense report and invoice for the funding that provides indigent services and capacity expansion. Upon receipt, DBHDS scheduled a meeting with Grimes to implement more detailed reporting requirements. Grimes responded by making a request for “urgent assistance” to DBHDS Chief Administrative Officer Cort Kirkley. Among complaints that might have been valid regarding breakdowns in communication by DBHDS, Grimes alleged VARR was being “unjustly targeted,” that the finance department was “going beyond their scope” and that the funding was entrusted to VARR by lawmakers, “not DBHDS.”

The following day, DBHDS postponed its meeting with Grimes due to a scheduling conflict. Despite having submitted VARR’s invoice 14 days late, Grimes claimed there was a “dire sense of urgency” to receive payment on the invoice. He asked DBHDS to notify him by the end of the morning if payment would be “released immediately” to VARR.

That afternoon, despite sitting on a cash balance of $456,320 from this single funding source alone, VARR President Sarah Scarbrough enlisted the help of VARR’s contact in the governor’s office.

See the VARR/DBHDS email compilation document to review all emails in the thread.

Under pressure to expedite the process, in lieu of an in-person meeting, DBHDS Recovery Services Coordinator Kristine Konen emailed Grimes a short list of updated reporting requirements on May 10, 2022. Grimes responded that to provide the requested information “would require a software rewrite and would take an estimated 90 days with a cost of $40,000 dollars.” He wrote, “Please advise if DBHDS is interested in funding these revisions to the platform…”

DBHDS paid VARR’s invoice and did not enforce production of the requested information. 

In response to my request for comment on the contents in this article, Anthony Grimes wrote, “There are a number of the above statements that are inaccurate and or lack context.”

Sarah Scarbrough, Kate Grimes, Jimmy Christmas, Michael Tillem, and Frank Bellanger did not agree to be interviewed or respond to requests for comment.

DBHDS did not agree to be interviewed and did not respond to questions.

The rapid accumulation of money and power in the hands of just a few operators has not only been harmful to the people in early recovery whom the funds were intended to help. It appears to also have been dangerous to some recipients of that power, whose personal recovery has taken a back seat to fame and fortune.

The next section will cover drug use among industry leaders, drug-related ethical violations, and mutual insulation from scrutiny. Anyone with information on this subject is encouraged to contact me.

Follow up to Part I: The Medicaid Cash Cow

Since I posted Part I of this series covering forced IOP by recovery house operators, I have been hearing from people who report similar experiences with recovery house operators who were not named in the initial article. If you have been forced into an IOP or other treatment program while living at a recovery house, or if you have information related to this investigation, please reach out to me. Your name and contact information will not be shared without your permission.

*This article contains two corrections:

1. The original version incorrectly referenced a recent former DBHDS employee as a current employee. That mistake has been corrected.

2. The original version incorrectly stated that DBHDS did not have bed counts of VARR-certified operators after Nov. 2020. While DBHDS did not produce those records in connection with related requests, I later discovered records that contained VARR bed counts while reviewing hundreds of DBHDS emails.

Footnotes:

(1) Funding for peer recovery specialists that started in Oct. 2021 was exclusive to Imagine the Freedom and McShin. Six months later, VARR did obtain funding for peer recovery specialists across “all” VARR certified organizations. However, this did not balance the distribution of funds. True Recovery, WAR Foundation and McShin were included in the new funding distribution. They were allotted the maximum number of employees per organization while simultaneously employing the peer specialists from the first round of funding. By October 2022, McShin’s funding for three peer specialists expired. Imagine the Freedom, through VARR, obtained renewed funding for 2 full-time peer specialists, giving True Recovery and WAR Foundation an ongoing advantage of additional staff. Click to return to article.

(2) A subsequent internal email from Will Harris also suggested he was not aware of Rook’s and Grimes’ financial interest in the funding application for peer specialists at Imagine the Freedom Recovery Foundation. Harris wrote, “The funding that they are currently seeking is for staffing at 3 Recovery Community Organizations which may or may not be subsidiary entities of VARR, but are planned to operate out of the Henrico facility that VARR has acquired (in part with FY21 SOR funds).” Click to return to article.

(3) Michael Tillem co-owns River City Residential Services with Jimmy Christmas and David Rook. It is unknown whether Dr. Peter Breslin also has ownership in the company. Click to return to article.

(4) Lists VARR provided to DBHDS on 7/12/21, 10/5/21, 11/1/21, 2/3/22 and 5/10/22 reflected 27 VARR-certified operators. This data will be included with the next update on VARR spending. Click to return to article.

(5) According to David Rook, the VARR office sent an email announcement to all VARR certified operators with information on how to apply for addiction management funds. Click to return to article.

(6) According to Rook, VARR only collects identifying information on the clients who receive indigent funds. He said data on all other clients is collected in raw form. Click to return to article.

(7) After fiscal year 2022, a contract modification dated September 14, 2022 states, “VARR accredited residence must be in compliance with utilizing the Advanced Recovery Management System (ARMS) which contains the REC-CAP module in order to be eligible to receive funding.” This language was not included in any prior contracts that applied to fiscal year 2022 (7/1/21 – 6/30/22). The new contract does not clarify what it means to be “in compliance.” Click to return to article.

(8) Per Section VII. General Grant Terms, “Federal award funds must supplement, not replace (supplant) nonfederal funds.” “Supplant” is defined in Section II as “To replace funding of a recipient’s existing program with funds from a federal grant.” Click to return to article.

(9) For fiscal year 2022 (7/1/21 – 6/30/22), VARR reported capacity-expansion program expenditures of $793,663 out of the $1,012,000 budget. DBHDS permitted VARR to carry the unspent balance of $218,336 into the next period (the total remaining balance of $336,203 referenced in the email includes unspent funds from other categories under this SFA). I have not obtained expenditure records beyond 6/30/22. Click to return to article.

(10) VARR’s Subrecipient Funding Agreement stipulates, “Within 10 business days of the start of each period, VARR will submit an invoice based on estimated cash disbursements required for the designated period.” April 1st was the start of the performance period, meaning the invoice was due on April 14th. VARR submitted the invoice on April 28th. Click to return to article.

129 thoughts on “II. VARR Secures Millions; VARR Leaders Among Top Beneficiaries”

  1. You are only scratching the surface. The corruption goes much deeper. Keep digging, you are spot on so far. More will be revealed.

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      1. Or if she was really interested in helping/doing the right thing or had any actual evidence she could just post the whole thing. The person writing this doesn’t care anymore about the addicts being hurt than the people she’s claiming to expose.

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        1. I believe the “actual evidence” was in the screen shots and the direct quotes from David Rook himself. She also included links to legislation and to the NARR policies and procedures that VARR/true recovery/everyone in that building are violating. ALSO, this is literally only the first installment of this series. Everyone in the recovery community here knows everybody else’s business. We all know what [name redacted] has been doing with the women BONDED to his program for years… the evidence? How about his son with [name redacted]? The sexual exploitation, the shady real estate purchases, the favors (sexual and otherwise) for free rent etc.. EVERYONE KNOWS. Thank God it’s finally being exposed to the larger community. These people have been getting away with this shit for so long I know they think nothing will actually happen as a result of this all coming out… I promise you they have another thing coming.

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          1. The screenshots are not actual evidence of anything illegal. A baby is potentially evidence of something morally wrong but again, not illegal unless she was under age. A lot of people make a lot of assumptions and accusations, but no one ever provides proof which is why nothing ever goes any further than random blogs and posts on social media. As far as I am aware, every recovery organization has specific providers they refer out to for services and always have. There is never any actual evidence of illegal wrong doing. I could post links to a lot of laws … but it’s pretty useless without evidence of someone breaking said laws. If there’s evidence why didn’t this person go to law enforcement? What shady real estate deals? Didn’t even see that or anything about sexual exploitation in this blog.

            You seem to know more than the author of this blog. Since you do have so much information, what is the ultimate goal of this blog? What’s the purpose behind “exposing” any of this and what are they even exposing if according to you, EVERYONE already knows? Is there an end game that actually involves helping anyone? Why drag it out if the goal is to help people?

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            1. Like I already said… this is literally just the first installment, ONE of ten. It’s illegal to sleep with someone whom is a participant in your program through an extension of the incarceration system and is under your supervision. This is covered under the prison rape act. I could also link that law.

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              1. I would love the link showing it’s a PREA violation. Shocking that law enforcement hasn’t gotten involved and the court keeps sending people if that’s accurate.

                The point is we have no way of knowing the motive behind this blog or what the end game is. The author hasn’t mentioned it. And she’s apparently just interested in dragging everything out for some reason. Seems no one has pure motives.

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                1. Hi friend! You can read all about PREA at vadoc.Virginia.gov I am unable to post on this blog a screenshot highlighting where the law clearly states that this law extends to all facets of the incarceration system but here is a quote: “The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) is a federal law intended to prevent, detect, and address sexual abuse of inmates and probationers. It applies to all levels of adult prisons and jails, juvenile confinement facilities, lockups, and community confinement facilities. Learn more about our zero-tolerance policy regarding PREA in Operating Procedure 038.3.” Community confinement facilities would include a community based program that an individual is bonded to as an extension of or in addition to their incarceration term. A person whom is under state supervision cannot give full consent to their probationer and engaging in sexual acts with someone who is unable to give consent is called rape. Period. That being said, even if this blogs whole purpose is to expose just immorality and not illegality it helps people by providing information to patients that enables them to make more informed decisions regarding choices in their place of care.

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                2. Super shocking.. it’s almost like *gasp* there has been little to no oversight on these completely unregulated programs and the government and law enforcement don’t actually care about addicts!

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                  1. The definitions listed for PREA do not seem to include persons on bond or recovery house operators. Maybe I missed it. If there is sexual misconduct happening hopefully someone stands up and does the right thing for victims. Again, no one has provided evidence of anything illegal. But right … maybe it’s coming eventually in one of these parts. Maybe by the summer the author will be ready or next year. Who knows.

                    And it’s not shocking at all really – the government or law enforcement has never cared about addicts. Which brings the question … what is the purpose all this? To get the government involved? To lose beds for addicts suffering when we already don’t have enough? Does the author have any actual solutions or plans to get involved and help? Do any of these critics on here plan on getting involved and opening houses or helping?

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                    2. PREA clearly outlines the fact that it covers all facility workers, contractors, volunteers, probationers, and ANYONE whom is under state supervision. It’s kinda crazy how you’re literally trying to defend rape as defined by the law but questioning this author’s motivations.. maybe you need to be checking your own.

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        2. Responsible journalism takes time. I’m sorry you’re used to people posting stuff with little consideration of accuracy. The writer is getting responses from the involved parties. She is editing, rewriting and editing again. Perhaps you would just throw everything up on Facebook, but she’s a bit more deliberative.

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          1. The editing and writing are not great so if that’s sad if it’s what’s taking so long. And I would hardly call this responsible journalism.

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  3. I’ve been around Richmond recovery for about 3 years now volunteered my services as a recovering addict and had to remove myself from service in the downtown area Recovery House systems due to internal feelings of resentment based on acknowledge that I was gaining of how these operations were definitely funding before recovery based. I saw people who were stressed constantly by rules and Financial requirements and under the constant threat of dismissal and or return to jail. I must say at the same time it is a struggle the way these operations are run with less than proper qualified management at the residential level putting clients with three or four months of clean time in charge of houses being called House managers and not having to pay rent in exchange for that service. The added stress of recovery and trying to hold other clients accountable while answering to the management of the organizations at times led to overdose deaths within the houses as well as entire houses at times relapsing only to be reintroduced into an intensive system which cost anywhere from 5 to 10 thousand dollars which is either paid for by insurance companies, family funding or paid for by grants which are taxpayer funded basically. That became growingly aware that ethics were not applied properly some clients were treating preferentially based on their willingness to donate more of their time and so-called volunteer to do things for management at their personal homes or businesses in exchange for staying in the click. We have a crisis on our hands and there are some very wealthy people at the heads of these organizations who do not put principles before personalities which is a strict tradition in the Narcotics Anonymous program. Narcotics Anonymous saved my life and I have given of myself freely what was given to me for nearly 9 years now. I no longer do anything in Richmond based on building resentments and knowledge of what I believe is ethically, immorally based business practices. I do understand that there is a need for the financial support for all levels of these businesses but when Real Estate is bought through these businesses and I mean a lot of it! Huge damn money that I’m sure comes under non-profit Holdings therefore probably untaxed or reduced tax and they become assets while these businesses answer to their board of directors who also profit from said business practices. Travels going to spend a whole lot of by upper echelon that include expense accounts that cover a lot of things that are not business as usual with corporations and such playing golf dining out enjoying things that any human being should be able to enjoy but at who’s expense? My feeling is recovery is suffering because of greed and I don’t believe that there is a single organization that I have come in contact with in Richmond other than The Healing Place in South Richmond that has a recovery first based operation. I am truly saddened by this and it really weighed upon me heavily thus removing myself for my own recovery purposes. I attend meetings outside the city I have started my own NA meeting the first in my County in the farm belt north of the city where recovery is minimal at best because all the money goes to the cities and Richmond is rampant with the disease of greed rather than the desire to provide recovery first! Please follow up and dig deeper, and unbiased reflection of all real estate based recovery businesses in richmond. Please explore and Report on what I believe is the positive message of recovery that comes from The Healing Place Recovery Center in South Richmond because some positive needs to come out of this as it is so rampant was improprieties and negativity that it taints the minds of those seeking recovery!

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    1. Do you care to share the name of the place you are referring to? (Or places if you were referring to more than one)
      Thank you.

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  4. I have several questions for you, Christy:
    1) How much experience do you have with folks who are new in recovery? You say that those in jail will say anything to get out of jail. That will include agreeing to work a program and then not wanting to follow through.
    2) You are not showing the other side–how many people have these recovery houses had to use Narcan to bring back to life because they have secretly gone out and found drugs, brought them back into the recovery house–still in secret, and would have died had they not been there where someone was paying attention.
    3) What do you know about what it takes to give help to someone who is in the grip of addiction? It requires a hard boundary and requirements where there is a clear line that they cannot cross. Those who are working on the front lines know that a hard boundary is necessary.

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    1. I think the entire point is the corruption of the people involve and the system. Forcing someone to fit into a recovery program or getting kick backs for sending them to a certain program discounts/discredits the good works done, but that is just one interested observer’s opinion

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  5. I think her name is Christa. Not Christy.
    Anyways.
    I do remember reading this part that she wrote—-“ The individuals addressed in this report (below) have undoubtedly helped many people over the years.”

    Also, having hard boundaries isn’t the same thing as forcing vulnerable, uniformed, fragile people to do IOP so they get a shit ton of cash in return.

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    1. This is a lot of allegations of misuse. I don’t have any reason to hide or make anonymous comments as many of you little cowardly keyboard warriors. Tied to Peters Place? Yep assisted them in getting an LGBTQIA specific house opened. Because the community needed one. Tied to Isaiah Bagby? Nope, he worked for me for more than a year. He built a relationship with the VARR office. He noticed not many folks of color owning houses and wanted to be a part of change. I hear you though!! BLACK man buys a 10 year old Jag he must of stole the money…typical racist shit.

      VARR did undergo an audit by a credible auditor ..Christa knows it has copies of it but too busy spinning her own narrative. Federal Yellowbook Audit. Who knows and has seen all off this..info and more. he made comments like I’ve never seen a first time group get audited and have such well kept records and expense. The audit was recognized by federal HHS secretary. It’s funny Eco keeps getting brought up with TRRVA. Neither owner of True Recovery takes any dividend check from Eco. Eco was crumbling with broken washers microwaves holes in floors, burned out windows when we took it over from previous operator. It’s a 20k a month lease and thousands of dollars in upkeep. 20k in just washers and dryers in 18 months. We have a new deal with new owners for windows replacement and HVAC upgrades along with replacing all water heaters. We inherited a 11k water bill when we took it over as well.

      What I see is a refusal to even look at McShin. In this blog there’s a screenshot of an email that appears was shared with Christa by Jesse Wysocki, We have Carl Mcdade admitting to having Christa at her house. We have John who for six months has shared with Christa in real time info back and forth.. admittedly. John’s COMMENTS IT’S SICKENING AND DISGUSTING people were left out is laughable. John made every effort possible to trap all of these funds just to Mcshin…
      I never slept with a participant at McShin, I was not fired from McShin, I did not give any participant detox meds that belonged to someone else. Every effort I’ve made is to improve the community, its resources, its reach, and its outcomes. I have made a ton of partnerships in this community because we can do more together than we can in silos. This will be my only comment here. Keep it coming Christa you are doing so much good for the community so many will live and prosper from this work

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      1. David just stop.
        Stop lying. Stop deflecting. Stop talking about fucking hvac units at eco flats.
        John didn’t do any of this to you. No one did any of this to you. You did this to yourself.

        I mean this with all sincerity… just take care of yourself and your sobriety right now.
        Also, what is all of this we stuff.
        “We” didn’t think you had anything to do with TRRVA anymore…?

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        1. Hey Chill, I don’t think anything has been done to me. Point out one lie in my comments back with some evidence. Who said I have anything to do with TRRVA at the moment?Better yet who said I didn’t? What’s deflecting ? Just adding general information about Eco because above in a graph or lumps the two together. I made no comments about John doing anything to me? This certainly isn’t about me as much as most of you would love to make it that way. I believe its about Christa, as Carol stated to the board she has an axe to grind with the state according to her ,Christa tried something similar in a DOC job, and was subsequently fired, honestly I dont know. Separate Eco and TRRVA in that graph above and you will see the single largest recipient of funds is not TRRVA nor Eco. We didn’t go and create a program at Eco and try to grab money for programs there. I mean if we were looking for a money grab well there is obvious one not taken…wonder why? Because Eco doesn’t sell programs.
          There is so much contextual information missing from this stuff its pitiful. Anyone that’s ever had any questions that walked into that VARR office got answers. So to take the time and explain it to Christa or you apparently is a waste of time you have developed your truth. Like the Helping Hands project that is referenced that was not a part of expansion money used in other places it was money from another source at another time and it wasn’t VARR that shut that down it was the state and they made it painfully clear they were not okay with the way it was going. Helping Hands didn’t come to VARR. McShin who was overseeing that area of growth project approached her. Everyone wanted that to work. None of you have any clue how much time we have spent talking to municipalities Roanoke, VA Beach, Pulaski, Orange county just to name a few on behalf of folks operating in those areas or trying to open.
          I am certainly focused on me and tonight is the first time I’ve engaged or visited in a couple weeks and only because others text the links to me. Many folks seem to think they know or have information on my recovery…I can assure you chill whatever it is you believe you know…well you haven’t spoken to me about it

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  6. I’ve been in and out of recovery for years around Richmond and this article is spot on… Especially the part where if you don’t conform to their every wish they will just throw you out. There isn’t a rco out there that isn’t pocketing money and especially [organization’s name redacted]. I feel like if you were to dig into them you would find a lot of info every one of these places started from them and I’m sure [name redacted] sees a pretty penny… I remember going through the program and being made to get Medicaid then being made to go to therapy at river city and that’s another thing every single one of these places uses river city smh I remember one time someone had just started a job and their job worked with them with her schedule but the organization was not willing to work with her told her if she wasn’t at this mandatory meeting for the one hour she would be kicked out of the program so she had to quit her job…. Every single one of these places puts profit over each person that comes looking for help and they make it no secret you are just basically another number cause they can always fill your bed..

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    1. You’re driving too fast, jail. Slow, jail. You’re charging too high prices for recovery programs and giving all your friends government funding. Straight to jail. Right away.

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  8. Anthony Grimes is not equipped to handle the money or the job duties he has been put in charge of. That has become BLATANTLY obvious. Calling on NARR and other advocates to step up and make necessary changes. This cannot continue. This is a joke.

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  9. “As long as a journalist tells the truth, in conscience and fairness, it is not his job to worry about consequences. The truth is never as dangerous as a lie in the long run. I truly believe the truth sets men free.”

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    1. A real audit was done? Did Anthony Grimes succeed in bullying DBHDS out of another $40k to get that done? Since per his email that was the ONLY way VARR could provide DBHDS with the requested financials?

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  11. Anthony Grimes – CPRS.

    No one: sure let’s give this man millions of dollars even though he has no formal or clear training/education in large money management and shall I say… ethics.

    -Bellanger got his hush money. $63,000
    -Jimmy Christmas gets another $96,000 for 2 houses………
    -Zeke Bagby: Brother of Lamont Bagby and friend of David Rook gets $155,000
    -Peters Place connected to David Rook gets $140,000

    Rest of the state: $ basically nothing

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    1. I’m confuse on how you’re so educated on all this. Do you have an inside source that tells you exactly everything I believe your just miserable in your own life and are desperate to be apart of some more worthless activity

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  12. Its funny how you keep bringing up Supplanting funds when [organization name redacted] has been doing this for years! Just look at there jail SAMSA grant and the percentage of time there staff was supposed to be spending on that project

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  15. You’re my friend… you get money
    You’re my friend.. you get money
    You’re not my friend… you no get money

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  16. Unbelievable! Can’t wait to hear about the kings of VAAR drug use. I know 2 for sure. Is there more? We shall see! You can’t hide anymore. Rut roe!

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    1. did you forget that they are all in recovery? that’s whats so pathetic about most of the people posting on here it doesn’t matter your job or status in the world if you’re an addict you always have the possibility of using. Instead of supporting people that fall people want to beat them down. Christa is doing absolutely doing nothing but trying to make a name for herself using addicts that are in active addiction and trying to make a dollar. what has she done to try and improve any of this?

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      1. Christa is helping people suffering with SUD by providing transparency and enabling patients to make more informed decisions about their choices in place of care. She is also helping the larger community by showing how our tax dollars have been mishandled, it’s our money and we have a right to know. Telling the truth can be hard, thank you Christa for doing the right thing.

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        1. You’re clearly uneducated! How much does it cost to keep someone in jail? How much does it cost tax payers per hospital visit? How long is the wait list for treatment centers?

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      2. Money? Are there ads on this site? What’s the revenue stream? Please show me how this blog is making money for Christa.

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  17. Yes they are all in recovery but you can’t smoke crack with hookers in hotels and tell the new comer how to get clean. This girl is not getting rich off of this. She is just putting the facts in writing so people can see what is really happening. Stop shooting the messenger. This is so sad . All this money meant to help the sick and suffering being used by these low life’s. They all belong in jail. If not the system in completely broken.

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    1. That’s what guilty people do. Point fingers and blame others.

      Oh hey what about this.
      Oh hey why aren’t you talking about that.

      They won’t own their shit.
      But the Facts matter. Facts are going to matter to the state and to Medicaid and NARR and everyone else that’s going to see this shit.
      Let these “keyboard warriors” keep on blabbing away because it doesn’t really matter what they say. The facts matter.

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      1. There seems to be a lot of nameless people on here that are pointing fingers at other places. I’m not sure who they are hiding behind anonymous profiles but I wouldn’t shoot so quickly at them being guilty of anything. It’s relevant to ask why if you are so concerned about all this why do you seem to be exempting others. Facts keep getting mentioned, If a guy gets hit by a train, a fact is he got hit by a train. We could stop there, or we could look deeper was he pushed? Was he late? Rushing? Did the train blow its horn? Were the gates working? Did signals work? Was he injured? The answers to those questions certainly don’t change the fact that he was hit by the train, but each adds a layer of context.
        Here is a fact a professional reputable experienced auditor, conducted a audit. A yellow book audit meeting the highest Federal Standards. Standards set by Federal Government. Fact this auditor has every transaction every name every position. He had a why what and when to everything. Here’s a little context
        GAO logoU.S. Government Accountability Office
        Breadcrumb
        Home WatchBlog 05 What Is the Yellow Book?
        WatchBlog
        What Is the Yellow Book?
        Posted on May 20, 2014

        Since 1972, GAO has produced and maintained Government Auditing Standards, also known as the Yellow Book. The Yellow Book is the book of standards and guidance for auditors and audit organizations, outlining the characteristics of good audit reports, professional qualifications for auditors, and audit quality guidelines. Many auditors of federal, state, and local government programs use these standards, commonly referred to as generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS), to produce their reports. How Did the Yellow Book Get Its Nickname? In an interview with Marcia Buchanan, who maintained the Yellow Book for 22 years, we heard that it’s called the Yellow Book because the group that put it together in 1972 thought that it should have a gold cover and be called it the “Golden Rules of Auditing.” The Comptroller General at the time, Elmer Staats, thought that was very presumptuous. And so it became the Yellow Book—getting close to gold, but not completely. How Does the Yellow Book Help Auditors? The Yellow Book standards help auditors hold the organizations they audit accountable. GAGAS contains requirements relating to ethics, independence, auditors’ professional judgment and competence, quality control, performance of the audit, and reporting. The standards help ensure the information disclosed in an auditor’s report has been objectively acquired and evaluated to be sufficiently useful to its readers. The Yellow Book discusses three types of audits:
        Performance audits can be used to improve program performance, reduce costs, and help organizations make better decisions.
        Financial audits provide an independent assessment of whether an organization’s reported financial information is presented fairly in accordance with recognized criteria.
        Attestation engagements cover a broad range of financial or nonfinancial objectives. The auditor issues an examination, a review, or an agreed-upon procedures report.
        Readers know they can rely on the information contained in an audit report that used GAGAS standards and use it to make key decisions. How Do I Get It? The Yellow Book was last revised in 2011. More information and links to the Yellow Book are available on our website. There, you will also find contact information that you can use to get in touch with us if you have any questions about implementing Yellow Book standards in your audits. Once you get your copy, you won’t want to leave it behind!

        Nothing was found to be unethical, no mention of self dealing, no boardering unethical or unsound spending. These are facts . The audit is a matter of public record and can obtained fairly easily.

        Now let’s talk more facts in March I David Rook had a reoccurence of use. I self reported to VARR, TRRVA, the Office. Of Recovery and many other groups and agencies. I stepped down from my position of Chairman of The Board at VARR, Stepped Down as President of TRRVA. After a short period of attempts to solidify my recovery, I checked into a treatment center. I did go back to work at TRRVA following this period re-engaged in 12 step fellowship and began seeing an individual therapist. I served out my term on VARR board holding no position at executive level nor serving on any committee. My work at TRRVA was limited working with executive team and development not with residents. Early December 2022 I experienced another couple of weeks of on again off again use. I did not work during this period and personally made a decision to take indefinite leave of absence to focus solely on my recovery and family. I have arranged drug testing through an independent doctors office where results of frequent test will be provided to the mother of my youngest child and subsequently will be made available to VARR if requested and any party that I may have professional dealings with. I am currently working with recovery people and treatment professionals that I have no business dealings with. This really isn’t anyone’s business and is difficult to navigate under normal circumstances These are facts , facts that have been difficult for my family, kids especially, difficult for my staff, for me and my friends. You guys want to imply stuff about VARR money TRRVA business practices have it. I’m doing what I need to do to be the father my kids have come to know and count on and would hope for those of you that would like to see me down… you will show some discernment around addiction.
        I’ll end with this no one that’s ever really spent time with me or gotten to know me would ever suggest my goals were ever greed driven. I really believed and believe VARR is a vessel for better care in recovery houses. That without that money a lot of people that went to work today, celebrated a milestone, saw their own children, spent Christmas with their families would be in jail or worse, using. In under a year with that funding VARR operators moved from 80% white 20% non white….to nearly 50% 50%. That’s access folks that’s opening doors, that’s making positive change. Want to do something good for your community? Go to VARR help them find people in rural areas that are capable running houses serve as a conduit. Help them identify and get the Tidewater area housing community built up! We need more not less, and if you need money from our allocated dollars in the Richmond area to do it, I’ll be there to support and advocate for that. Working on VARR for ten years , at endless hours as a volunteer sometimes it was just two of us that believed in standards and self regulation and carried that flag…it was never about money… the money was unimaginable..literally unimaginable. We wanted funding to run the office and have bandwidth to certify houses.

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          1. Your wrong about this as well. First VARR board meeting I attended was at the SAARA center in 2012. The first best practices summit John and I attended representing VARR was in Atlanta October 2012. McShin was certified in 2013 along with just a few others from the city. 2015 VARR received its nonprofit status.

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            1. Rook ur timeline is wrong. I was at the first varr meeting. You were there as well as Kate and Anthony Grimes and a few other people. We were in McShin’s basement. Kate was elected president. John wanted to model VARR after FARR because of all the horrible things his brother was doing and he wanted to put a stop to it. I didn’t get clean until 2014 so this must have been in 2015..

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              1. Nope I’m not wrong Kate was never president she elected as executive director. That certainly was not even close to the first VARR meetimg. In 2013 Curtis Colodney formerly with NARR came down to do inspection at Mcshin.

                VARR was kicking around some years before that. Check with Virginia State Corperation Commission it’s an easy search you will see we officially filed 6\8\2012. https://cis.scc.virginia.gov/EntitySearch/BusinessInformation?businessId=326728&source=FromEntityResult&isSeries%20=%20false. There you go I made it easier. But your comments about what you think you know epitomize this whole thing. Also first board meeting I attended was in place of John, The entire board resigned at that meeting as there was conflict between SAARA and McShin. Then there became two groups bidding to carry the VARR flag and get recognition from NARR. McShin and SAARA of Virginia. NARR asked one simple question in the end that determined who would get the nod. SAARA was asked if they would include McShin in membership and McShin was asked if they would include SAARA. McShins answer and I know this because I gave it was that if SAARA had recovery houses of course they could join. I’m not sure what SARA’S answer was but NARR determined that VARR at that point would recognized under McShin. We had to then officially form VARR because NARR wanted a state affiliate not a certified organization as an affiliate hence 6\8\2012. We had meetings with 30 plus people from around the state at Mcshin we visited places in fancy gap, Galax etc. Sarah Scarbroughs husband build our first website. So I’m happy at some point you sat in a room but assure you there so much that had already been done.
                I was not asked to resign I offered to resign. I did not give meds that belonged to McShin to that person. That individual had actually turned those meds over to me to keep locked with other unused meds. What I did was return those meds to that person. I offered to resign and it was accepted as the right thing to do as perception of events would be bad
                The next month John myself and another started TRRVA. I also went to work for McShin under 1099 to get the Faquier County.
                Not the pariah most would have me be.

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                1. I’m not calling you a pariah. I hear you, things happened with varr before I was around that I wasn’t aware of and I was wrong … sounds good. People make mistakes, no one is perfect. I know you feel like all of this is a personal attack on just you but I hope that you can see that multiple factors involving multiple people have made a lot of people upset over the years. This is not just on you. Don’t shoulder all of the responsibility of feeling like you have to defend the whole thing. I know you’re upset, this whole thing must feel really overwhelming. I hope you find some peace on the other side of all this.

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                  1. I really do have peace in all this. Someone asked why I’m the only one commenting out of all of these folks and I can’t speak for them I assume people are interested in the real story and that people can see none of us get rich off grant money. The shear number of folks getting grant money the massive jump in minorities getting services and gaining access. The increase in average length of stay. Why is that important? Because scientifically the longer one stays engaged the better chance of a positive outcome. Funding has helped to lessen that burden. Richmond Metro area is a Mecca for recovery unlike many places not just in the country but in the state. I would guess over 90% of beds in VA exist right there so it’s obvious that we would have greater spending. I mean people tying negativity to my involvement with Peters Place. We shut down a house which reduces bed count lowers grant dollars available to help that community get a house up and running. Of course they applied for help you can imagine I suppose the barriers the Trans BIPOC community faces from jails homelessness and lack of safe employment. The rent that is collected as a land lord vs an operational recovery is significant. Imagine the Freedom was a good idea it was a great idea. Combine entities share resources create a non profit to serve anyone that walks through the door. Get a full service mental health service on site. If you were in VARR board meeting at any point then you probably understand issues around transportation scheduling issues with so many people. Yes I put together a team of folks to come out of their own pockets to buy our building. Stigma is real pushy neighbors other tenants members of a church that you might rents from. A building in the corner just of the highway in the heart of Henrico. Every one put over 40 k of there own dollars up for that. To date not one person has recipient a dime back on initial investment. ITF has only cost TRRVA River City and WAR money. It does not feed our companies anything . The little grant for staffing peers doesn’t begin to cover the expense space. VARR was always about standards always about the state and all operators and their participants it’s not overwhelming its heartbreaking to see folks turn it to something it isn’t. True Recovery RVA is not cash flush and carries almost 4 million in debt. Yeah we borrow from my partners grandmother we have several other Owner financed houses, and we rent some. Ownership hasso many advantages other than just financial. I learned that at McShin and so did they . I’m guessing others are not commenting because they don’t believe anyone here even wishes to see anything but bad. If you were in that room I’m going to assume you know me and know at that time I was killing myself to be of service at just over 600 a week trying to raise two boys. I would assume you saw TRRVA get started and have some idea of how broke I lived and worked other jobs for a year before drawing a paycheck. I could have focused solely on True I could have made it non profit I could have put all my energy there. I didn’t I believed VARR. Again it’s not overwhelming it heartbreaking and if you know me at all you know that’s the truth. I appreciate your last comment

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  18. This audit keeps being mentioned as if it shows there is no wrong doing or provides absolution for any suggestion of unethical behavior. The auditors are not digging in to the level that this reporter has. They look to see things like “VARR received capacity expansion funds and those funds went to companies to start recovery housing, so congrats you’ve passed the audit”. They are not looking a layer deeper – who are the people actually getting this money, are these companies owned by people that would present serious conflicts of interest, etc”. You cannot tell me if the auditors where aware that Jimmy Christmas, a board member of VARR, was getting 20 whatever percent of capacity expansion funds slated to be disbursed throughout Virginia, and another 20 whatever percent was going to the brother of a politician who is a huge VARR supporter, you cannot tell me that is not worth mentioning in an audit. Audits are not the end all be all. Arthur Anderson was an”independent auditor” for decades. Guess who one of their biggest clients was….wait for it…..ENRON! Arthur Anderson passed their “audits” with flying colors for years. Then one day, a few investigative reporters published stories that Enron was a mountain of fraud, audits be damned. Same with the financial crisis of 2008. How many “auditors” gave these over-leveraged financial institutions and securities AAA ratings for years, until it was all too late. Once again, investigative journalists had to figure out where the audits fell short.

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    1. Someone with a brain.

      David’s dissertation didn’t move me much either.

      It’s the way the funds have been spent that are the issue. That $39,000 sliver of funds the rest of the state received was so small I had to borrow my granny’s glasses to see it.

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  19. The audit is NOT the issue here.
    Thank you for pointing that pointing that out.

    Screw the audit. They have mishandled funds by favoring themselves and their buddies.
    Period.

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  21. “You can spin it into a conflict. You can make the perception.”

    “You don’t think it is?”

    “No, because I think we know better than anybody who actually has programs. …”

    David knows best. That’s pretty bold. I didn’t know 10 years in the field and now you know best. Not saying you don’t know a lot but to say we know better than anybody is pretty bold David.

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    1. I didn’t say I knew best and I didn’t make decisions s on funds? The one person with a program that has been mentioned has for beds and I believe with all sincerity has been given maybe 2 simple directives and they just haven’t been done. When I was asked a question I wasn’t told who said it. The office does an in depth job folks paperwork policies and procedures so when i say we “the varr office” know best its because the office has reviewed all their stuff. The. assumption is that we are wrong and now the five magic and mysterious unnamed groups have programs that they sell not that they use at a price of xx. They have to be telling the truth correct? We don’t even know who they are. What I do know is that as of December none of them had contacted the VARR office with any new inquiries for money about programs.
      What about Stafish email to DBHDS. Starfish was being put under new operator process was required to meet with Bob weekly was required to have Bob do trainings with staff and interview clients. When a conversation was actually had with Frank he and his wife felt as if McShin had somehow influenced the board to try and stop him from becoming certified. We assured Starfish that McShin had no bearing on his situation and new operator policy would be required of all new members. So I believe once they realized they were not being singled out and the importance of new operator policy and the support that comes with that from VARR office their concerns were lessened. They didn’t hush money they showed up to the open portion of the board meeting they listened to discussions about funding streams and they applied for money. They asked lots of questions they had no more information than any other operator had at their finger tips. They simply decided to be involved and ask questions and show up to board meetings.
      10 years to build VARR for the better part of 8 of those years with no funds. Just pointing out its never been about the money.
      You guys keep pointing out that this area got most of the funds most of the beds are in this area that’s it. It’s too bad we all know each other.
      Yes the auditor knows all the. Board members and he saw all the money and he knows who is in each organization.

      If I’m not mistaken new laws were developed after ENRON and thet probably had 50 billion in assets with teams of accountants, but we are clearly in the same picture thanks for mentioning it.

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  22. The reporter’s motivations keep getting brought up. From what I can see, she’s not being paid for this. She doesn’t stand to gain millions in government grants. She has no personal vendetta against these people. Based on her bio and what she’s stated, she seems to actually care about a vulnerable population being mistreated or being used for personal gain. She seems to care more about these people as individuals than some of these RCO operators. That’s the problem with incentives – operators with for-profit businesses make more money when people relapse, make more money when they force people into treatment against their will, make more money when they give grants to their cronies. When you make money per head, I’m sure it’d be difficult for anyone to not start seeing sick and suffering addicts as dollar signs. You start to see situations as mentioned in the article, where VARR has a $500k bank balance, but tells DBHDS they need more money right away. Then when some no-name RCO operator in rural Virginia asks for a pittance, they get turned away because they “haven’t input enough data”. But when VARRs friends need money, it’s no problem. The reporter doesn’t seem to have anything to gain and actually wants to help this money be spent in a responsible way to suffering people can get the care they deserve.

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    1. Recap is how VARR and the state ensures that dollars are spent on actual people. The VARR office follows up and interviews recipients of the funds. If they just released the funds to groups without any controls that would be the sticking point here. Four beds …four this would literally take around 4hrs of time every 30 45 days it’s not too much to ask and has always been part of the policy.
      Being referred to a higher level of care isn’t forcing treatment on anyone. It’s option that ways what’s best for the individual and what’s best for the community. We are obligated to report to courts on court ordered people. What do think happens when we report a relapse to the court and we state offered to engage participant higher level of care but they denied. We are raising accountability and we are doing our best to offer more. We try to avoid consequences other groups do things like go to healing place for two weeks and if you don’t you can’t stay or come back. I like our method better.

      Someone also stated above that the rest of the state got 39k. I’m guessing that’s in indigent funds? Russell County project I believe in year one received around 300k. Well over what any other project received.
      I also believe the office has strategic plans to make more effort to get more rural projects underway and begin to build a much needed south eastern and Tidewater area growing.

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      1. I know Julie and Meredith at The Recovery Connection had to close multiple houses because of lack of funding. If funding was supposed to be distributed to organizations based on number of beds how do you explain this? How do you explain the fact that Winchester lost all those beds for addicts suffering because TRC only got $3k from VARR while your buddy got $30k just for furniture for his start-up house? You’re so used to talking your way out of everything and manipulating everyone around you.. the numbers don’t lie Rook. Just keep spinning tho.. keep just skirting around the truth.. like you weren’t fired from McShin, you were just asked to resign. You weren’t giving meds to a participant, just your ex girlfriend. You weren’t sleeping with participants, just former participants. Addicts can’t afford to lose beds, but you only care about new beds owned by your friends. Get real Rook…

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        1. Julie is a friend of mine as well. I believe they had funding through a CSB partnership and their closing s may have been before we received expansion funds or indigent funds. They did close one house as they opened their own ASAM Level 3.1 low intensity treatment and are able to bill medicaid at that location. The VARR office myself included have had talks with them about their willingness to use funding for expansion in that area.

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        2. Julie is a friend of mine as well. I believe they had funding through a CSB partnership and their closing s may have been before we received expansion funds or indigent funds. They did close one house as they opened their own ASAM Level 3.1 low intensity treatment and are able to bill medicaid at that location. Recovery Connection is a great group I would love to see funds go there . The VARR has had those discussions with them

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  23. I just have one question- why is Rook the ONLY one continuing to respond to everything out of all these people………….

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    1. Because he only had one comment to make and that was it. And also he only knows about this because people send him the links. Duh.

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  24. David,
    I have a couple sincere questions for you and please Just the truth if you are capable of that as many of us are trying to make sense of this. You have to know a lot of things aren’t adding up in yalls favor. That’s not spinning perception, just stating the obvious.

    We know war, true, [organization redacted] & [organization redacted] funnel people to river city IOP and we know you get a check each month based off of how many people attend. I didn’t say every single person but we know a large majority. I literally know this to be 100% fact. You deny that true receives any form of kickback or compensation and that is a complete and total lie. I personally know for a fact you do. Also, your own staff and staff at war and [organization redacted] admit to these kickbacks and say they aren’t illegal. So, what’s the story? You’re denying it all together and others are saying – yes, we do get money back and it’s not illegal.
    [Name redacted] tells his participants that’s how they keep the lights on and to just be quiet and do it because that’s how they are able to stay at [organization redacted].

    Maybe the numbers have changed over the last couple months but I know damn well the operation y’all have been running for over a year. So, yes if you could please help me understand that.

    Moving on to my next question or point.

    Isn’t it safe to say that true recovery and war, mcshin use mostly donated furniture and items for their houses? I wasn’t aware any of the 3 or even journey for that matter got large amounts of money to fully furnish 2 houses. You have to admit it’s absurd that lotus recovery would get over 30k to furnish a house or 2 man. That money could have been used elsewhere.
    Same with urban….82k for 2 residence startups for 9 months and furnishings….
    No, this isn’t about race. It’s Actually kind of shallow of you to even suggest that but I get you’re grasping for Straws trying to make all Of this make sense for others.

    Why has Kim adams with recovering hands not been able to stay afloat despite asking varr for help yet the majority of Richmond gets tons of money. Same with other operators throughout the state. That’s one thing you can’t deny. Those graphs are real David the money placement……christa didnt reach up her butt and just pull those out did she? No, they are real money numbers.

    Why was Anthony grimes urgently demanding money from Cort kirkley with dbhds while Sitting on a large cash balance ? That just seems so strange to me. Maybe that one is just ego? We all know Zohab is yalls inside man there but things aren’t adding up with that relationship either and you’re naive if you think folks at dbhds aren’t scratching their little heads right now at all of this. We get it.. dbhds trusted varr to allocate and disperse funds and the trust has now been broken.

    Last but not least….. can you just admit the conflict of interest between you/ VARR and Anthony grimes/varr in regards to your former position there and his current and your respective recovery businesses. I’m not getting into board members but first it was you & then you said you stepped aside for Anthony. No one is saying that you guys haven’t worked hard to get where you’re at, I don’t doubt that at all. But I think things went to the left a little and greed is a mother fucker. As addicts we want more more more. No one is saying you shouldn’t be making money. Businesses have to profit, yes. But Don’t forget majority of us live here. We can all see things with our own eyes. Houses.. (yes plural) cars, vacations, ways and means of living, etc.
    Not just you. Previously mentioned names as well.

    So those days where you made 600 a week are over and Have been over… you worked hard. You deserve a good life but stop trying to act like oh true recovery is in debt, we borrow from Coleman’s grandmother, no one profits from eco.
    No one is hurting over there. Again, you should be making money but as I said… I think the money got to your head.

    As someone else said, this isn’t all on you. In one breath, I feel like by commenting you’re just digging a deeper hole. I know you do not see it that way but in that same breath, I somewhat commend you for being the only One with balls to do so.

    And please for the love of god stop insulting our intelligence by denying what happened with your departure at mcshin. No one is trying you for a crime
    But It’s actually disrespectful that you continue to try to say what really happened didn’t happen.
    Like I said, David…. Most of us live here and have lived here. We know what happened with [name redacted]. End of story.

    If you could please help me gain some understanding about the above. Thanks.

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    1. I don’t have much to comment except I know for an absolute fact that David was not fired, was not asked to resign, but did exactly as he stated and chose to walk away from his position at McShin. It was his choice and John didn’t stop him. The detox medication was in McShin’s safe from when the owner was there and he rightfully returned it to her… I’m not even sure why this is being brought up but I do have to drop my 2 cents here!

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      1. [Name redacted] hadn’t been a resident of McShin for years before that happened. I was there when she quit and started her own women’s houses. Her meds were absolutely not in that safe left from when she was previously at McShin because the last time she was at McShin she was clean and a staff member. Y’all need to please stop trying to gaslight the people who were around and remember that whole situation clearly. It was fucked up and traumatic for a lot of people. It’s honestly pretty messed up that it even keeps being spoken about but please for the love of Jesus stop trying to gaslight people about what actually happened.

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      2. Coming now from a former Board Member, yes David was forced into resigning from McShin or he would have been fired, he got to make that choice. Stop with the lies, everyone knows what went down there.

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  25. I remember when i used to take bits and pieces of facts and try to connect the dots to convince myself the feds were after me. I made some really compelling arguments too. I was on meth though. Of course there was also a time where i connected the dots about the illuminati using Lady Gaga videos for mind control. And that time i wasnt on drugs. So i totally get the whole obsessive conspiracy psychosis thing.

    Warmest regards ❤

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  26. My guess is that if you’re putting out a 10 article blog that your best evidence won’t come out at the beginning. Nonetheless, she’s reported multiple situations that deserve explanation. Everything she’s stated has been followed by screenshots, emails, or documents from her FOIA request. As the commenter above stated, Rook is spinning different explanations than other named parties. Just because they’re not responding on here doesn’t mean they’re not explaining things away to multiple people otherwise. The recovery community is big in Richmond, but word travels fast. Multiple people know for certain that things he is claiming are lies. It’s also not too much for other areas to ask why Richmond won’t announce or share potential government funds. In fact, blatantly disregard when asked directly per the emails shown. A lot of these numbers seem to be based on the amount of heads that can be counted. You don’t have to share more money if you roadblock efforts to expand availability in other areas before it can even start. Just because some commenters know named parties in real life and choose to believe they couldn’t do these terrible things doesn’t mean there’s no truth behind it. The fact is, even before the 2nd article was posted, multiple organizations named have changed business practices and added website disclosures that contradict their previous practices. It seems illogical this would happen on a witch-hunt to me. All of these individuals stating this is all garbage are going to look pretty ignorant after this all unfolds. It seems smarter to support in silence to me because it’s just not going to pan out the way those people are certain it will. I can promise you, it won’t.

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  27. Any addict is subject to relapse at any time. We put ourselves through enough hell if we do relapse… I can’t imagine having to go through that so publicly and with so many people wishing for my downfall. It’s disgusting. I hope whoever needs to be is focusing on themselves and their recovery and not worrying about this amateur blog. It’s gross to publicly discuss something so personal to a person in recovery and it’s no one’s business. A relapse also doesn’t negate the recovery we had prior or our ability to still help others. There’s no way someone publicly seeking information and publicly shaming people for using cares about addicts.

    What I learned from this blog is that a successful black man was able to gain access to much needed funds and begin helping an underserved population. Another black man was able to start a business and do the same. Black people (black males in particular) are incarcerated at higher rates than the rest of the population and are less likely to be offered treatment. They face many other barriers to recovery as well. There was also mention of Shauntelle and Peters Place … they help underserved populations as well. The LGBTQ community experiences substance use at a much higher rate than the heterosexual population. We also have more barriers to treatment and are at a higher risk of violence and sexual abuse. Thank god for all of them and the time they sacrifice to help others. How many private dollars did these people put into the recovery community? This blog was just a lot of people doing what they were supposed to with the funds it seems.

    Huge red flags that the author left out so much context and is trying to spin a narrative for whatever selfish reasons she has. There was no mention of the recent audit. VARR was around for a long time before successfully gaining access to funds. There was a lot of free time and work put into the organization. Also missing is how long recovery house operators have been fighting and operating in the negative prior to being able to gain access to funding. The mention of the CA mad because SHE didn’t take a meeting and she initiated contact was comical. Also comical was the quote from DBHDS saying outside of CSBs, VARR has been the exception to their policies. Did anyone ask why CSBs are exempt? We all know the government is the most corrupt organization of all. Yet here the author (and anonymous commenters) is expecting them to do what exactly be truthful? Expose themselves? The government agencies care about addicts about as much as the author of this blog. Funds are finally being pulled away from the government, who is the least qualified of all to manage the addiction crisis we face in this country.

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    1. Hey Leslie,
      I hear what you’re saying but I believe that people aren’t as upset about who did receive funds as they are about who didn’t receive the funding that they were also entitled to (like The Recovery Connection or Helping Hands). You mentioned that LGBTQ people are subject to higher rates of violence and sexual abuse, you’re right. Thank you for being an advocate for them.. I hope that you will also support and advocate for the victims of the sexual abuse that has occurred at the hands of some of the owners and operators of these organizations.

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    2. If you are in charge of other people’s recovery, you should be more scrutinized that a regular anonymous addict. If someone who runs one of these programs starts using, the people they serve could die. You are obviously friends with these people and automatically take their side, yet you don’t think about the participants in their program who suffer because of their actions. The newcomer should be the focus. If you are going to put yourself in a position of power over the lives of other addicts, and also become what is basically an extension of law enforcement by having people court ordered to your program and reporting to these people’s P.O.s, then it should be incumbent upon you to maintain your own recovery, and if you don’t it should be public knowledge, as you are in a “supposed” position of serving the public. And you are wrong, getting high absolutely diminishes our ability to help others. Self-centeredness is a common trait of any using addict. Recovery is not about knowledge, it’s about action. You can have learned everything there is to know about recovery, but if you don’t have the action (the main action being staying clean), then you don’t have recovery. Recovery only happens in the here and now.
      You also seem like you want to make this a racial thing because it serves you and your friends interests (interest that include enriching themselves with tax dollars slated to serve the community). You ignore the fact that 90% of the people named in the article are white. I guess if you’re black you should be exempt from anyone pointing out huge conflicts of interest. 99% of the money slated for the ENTIRE state has gone to just a few people in Richmond. Jimmy Christmas, a board member of VARR and a business partner and office-space-sharer with many of these people, him a hundred thousand dollars for more Richmond recovery houses when rural communities all over the state get hardly anything presents a huge conflict of interest. A politician who is in bed with these people has a brother who gets hundreds of thousands of dollars to open another recovery house in Richmond is a HUGE conflict of interest. You can try to spin it any way you want but the fact remains. Why is he getting so much money and so many others are left out. Also, many of the people who had trouble receiving funds were people of color, another fact which you like to omit. And how is the money given to these people being spent? It really is a black hole with no oversight.

      We don’t know if people are doing the right things with the funds, as there is no real oversight or tracking of the money. VARR just reports “we gave X amount to organization Y” with these expansion funds. That’s it. What happens after that? It is absurd that seemingly educated people keep mentioning this audit like it shows there are no misdeeds going on. First, the audit was linked multiple times in this reporter’s story. You obviously didn’t click any of the links, but information stated in the story comes directly from the audit report. Secondly, all the audit report shows is that VARR spent the money where they said. VARR said they gave (these are made up figures for illustration) $50,000 to Starfish, and we the auditors verify that there was a check written from VARR to Starfish in that amount. The audit only verifies what VARR gives them. The audit also names “related parties” – aka board members whose organizations get VARR funds. I feel like the mention of the audit is a talking point that your friends at VARR have given you to distract from the malfeasance that is actually occurring.

      To your point about the Commonwealth’s Attorney, like almost every other VARR member that isn’t in the exclusive club, she had no idea any funding was available. Why is it incumbent on people trying to open a recovery house to have to set a meeting to find out there is funding available? If this funding, which once again comes from the taxpayers, is slated to expand recovery in Virginia, why is VARR so tight lipped about having it, even with their own members? Is it so they can take almost exclusive advantage of giving the money to their for-profit organizations and get rich?

      How you can sit there and say these conflicts of interest couldn’t possibly negatively effect people seeking recovery brings into question your motivations behind your post. I can’t tell if you are obtuse or are just in denial, but how you can seem to believe that EVERYTHING is above board is beyond me.

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      1. Such bold opinions for someone with no name. I never claimed everything was above board. I am no more privy to a private businesses books than anyone else here, including the author. I know that if things are being mishandled then it will come out in the wash. But what I won’t do without evidence is publicly bash anyone in the recovery community that helps others (or even that doesn’t help others). No single organization is perfect and people are fallible. No person in recovery should be held in higher regards than any other. We all just try to stay clean another day ultimately and help someone else do the same. Also, I am very familiar with audits and the entire process … from both sides.

        Actively using would affect anyone yes. But returning back to recovery after a relapse doesn’t mean that you have lost all knowledge or that you are incapable of helping others. There are families involved … children, spouses, parents. I would be devastated if I relapsed and did the things most using addicts do and then someone published it for my child and all her friends to read.

        I wouldn’t claim to be friends with any of the people involved. I talk to zero of them on a regular basis. I just think this attack on the recovery community as a whole is disgusting. I think it’s childish that various organizations can’t work together and figure out the best way to help the people coming through the doors. I think the people that suffer the most from all of this will be the people in or seeking housing and that is sad. We can’t afford to lose funding or beds … we need more of both. We need more people advocating for better public policy instead of arguing in the comments of a blog that will result in nothing.

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        1. Umm yeah that seems to be the point of this… to raise awareness so better public policies can be implemented. You’re not the sharpest are you?

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          2. That doesn’t come across very well if that’s her point. I can’t find any mention of her advocacy anywhere. Has she been to any of the public house sessions in the state and advocated? What about at the federal level? Has she worked with legislators to write new policy? Is she working closely with addicts and organizations to see what’s needed to actually help make a difference?

            When I say better public policy I mean ending the war on drugs that was started by the government. We need less government not more. Harm reduction policies are needed … needle exchanges, decriminalization, safe injection sites. People working closely within the community not hiding behind a screen. I must have missed all that in the blog somewhere too.

            If all you have to contribute to the discussion is insults while hiding behind “anonymous” then I’m done with this conversation. Hope you have the day you deserve! Great chatting.

            🖤

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            1. Why is it so hard for you to understand the role of a journalist? Are you telling reporters who write about Trump they should run for president if they don’t like him too? Your argument is asinine. Journalist write articles, that’s what they do. They don’t work with legislators to write laws. This is just a stupid thing to say.

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            2. Also, I’m sorry for insulting you. It’s just that some of the things you are saying make so little sense, it’s like a divine force overtakes me and compels me to point it out. It’s for the public good to know when someone is talking out of their ass as well.

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            3. I think the comment was meant in response to taking down the blog if you wanted to. The fact is that the information in the blog isn’t news to most of us. The author is just now backing it up with facts so there’s a paper trail. This is only the 2nd of 10 so my guess is she hasn’t even scraped the service. People are mad. People have been mad.

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            4. She’s doing journalism, not public policy. Your comment is like saying, “Stop reporting about police brutality! Become a police officer!”

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        2. Lesley:
          The recovery community isn’t being attacked. I don’t see how you took that from this blog. And where in this blog is anyone shamed for using?
          And if you knew Christa at all, you’d know how ridiculous it is to say she doesn’t care about addicts.
          Fellow addicts don’t get a free pass to do grimy shit.

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  28. I mean so we have a blog now to just bash successful businesses who literally help thousands of people a fucking year ? I get trying to fucking clean shit up because no where is perfect and as a former true recovery employee. I’ve seen a 20,000 a month rent payment and only being able to pay not even half because of so many scholarships have been offered to so many people that can’t fucking pay and that’s what they do they help people but also they can’t help people successfully and safely when the windows are burned up ceilings are failing like I’m not sure if your aware but when true recovery took over eco flats it was a fucking war zone and falling apart (not sure who runs eco flats as of now but rook was the best thing that happened to them) and the fact that y’all are bashing the people who try and help the most is fucking disgusting and instead of bashing all of them fucking open your own recovery residence and do it your god damn self . Like people really are sick

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    1. Yeah every journalist that ever writes an article about anything should quit journalism and start a business in whatever they are writing about. Good thinking.

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  29. Not sure who started this blog but sounds like a bitter former employee of somewhere . They get fucking government funding let the government figure out whether it’s corrupt or not stop differing people away from places that fucking save lives it could be your mother your sister your cousin that needs fucking help but now they don’t want to get it because of some accusations you have no business making . Become a board member make some change stop fucking slandering all these names that the courts STILL SEND PEOPLE TOO AND THE GOVERNMENT STILL GIVES FUNDING TOO . Fuck outta here

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      1. Pretty sure in the about section it says that she has friends and family in recovery… including [identifier redacted].
        Why the fuck would she want to destroy people in recovery you silly person.

        Holding people accountable for WASTING a lot of government funding = let’s do it. Sure a lot of it helped. But lots have gone to waste. Well, I guess houses and cars and vacations aren’t a waste after all.
        Glad someone finally stepped up to the plate. People been talking about this shit for years man. Someone just finally did the work.
        You think this money is tracked. No.
        They scrape off these lump sums like a son of a bitch. Chao.

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      2. How about a blog to help better the recovery community as a whole and not try and air any and all dirty laundry that may or may not be true like I do feel for the smaller organizations who get little to no help but think about how much true recovery and the bigger organizations have grown so much to be in a place to help others . I do not feel as if they can help EVERYONE like it’s impossible but vaar is set up as basically a guideline for recovery houses and u must follow the guidelines to even attempt to be apart of vaar im sure if vaar just gave any and everyone money cause they say they opened a recovery house shit would be fucked . I guess I just don’t understand where she is trying to go with all of this .

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          1. I mean is there not any other funding available besides vaar lol if you come to one road block move along to another option…. Don’t get me wrong I get it but look at other options … dunno not one to let one thing stop me from doing what I believe in

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            1. That’s your justification? Since Richmond keeps all the money, let it be and hope for something else that may or may not be? If it’s not coming from the government then I seriously doubt it’s a forgiven debt either. The entire point is to draw attention to figure out if it should be handled differently. You don’t just throw your hands up and let it be if it shouldn’t be. Of the millions Richmond kept, it seems beyond ridiculous they couldn’t give up $30k here and $20k there for the smaller communities. All the while giving yourselves tens of thousands to furnish homes that are actually mainly furnished with hand me downs. 1 small house in Richmond got $30k to furnish it. Are you kidding me??

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  30. HERES AN IDEA…. Y’all start your own organization and get grants and money and then distribute it the way you feel it should be and shut the fuck up

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    1. Bless your heart, you just proved everyone’s point. The money has been distributed the way that varr FELT it should be distributed instead of how the money was intended and mandated by the grant to be distributed. Now I know there are a lot of big words in here and big big emotions so go get yourself a drink of water and a seat. Take a breath honey and try again.

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  31. This is journalism. This is someone trying to figure out the truth. This is someone trying to help the new comer not hurt the community. There needs to be oversight when money is in the equation. These people making negative comments are ignorant, uneducated and would be the first ones to claim that “the man” is holding them down.

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    1. There’s like 5 positions that were grabbed up pretty quickly. The next post includes how they insulate each other to protect themselves. Why don’t you try again after reading that one.

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  33. Serious question …. If the money vaar is getting from the government is not being properly distributed …. Who would be in control of that and who determines who is eligible for money and who’s not … I’m assuming vaar has certain guidelines people need to follow in order to get assistance how would we make sure that whoever is supposed to get money actually gets money ? And why does the government keep giving them money if they’re not using it correctly? Not trying to argue trying to understand.

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    1. The author linked the contract between dbhds and varr. The contract states that indigent bed funding was supposed to be distributed based on number of beds within the organization and that indigent program funding (30 day programs for people who can’t afford them) should have been distributed between varr members who operate organizations that provide 30 day programs (as not all of them do). Dbhds also gave an allowance of funds for “expansion” meaning organizations could receive funding to hire new staff or open a new house. Dbhds trusted varr to distribute these funds between the varr members located throughout the state as was outlined in the contract. The problem is that organizations who are members of varr but not in the Richmond area were not informed of the funds or if they were aware of funds they could not gain access to it. A specific example of this is The Recovery Connection based in Winchester, VA. They offer 30 day programs but did not receive any indigent program funding. They also did not receive the indigent bed funding correctly based on the number of beds they had and were forced to close multiple houses. They were not made aware of and did not receive any expansion funding and had to lay off almost all their staff. This was what happened to multiple varr members outside of the Richmond area and outside of the tight knit circle of business partners that makes up the majority of varr and its board of directors. This is why people are upset. Dbhds was not aware of the fact that the funds were not being distributed as intended because all that varr was required to provide them was a break down of where the money actually went. Dbhds didn’t know there were other places where it should have gone as well, so they kept sending them more money. I hope that helps break this down a little better.

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  34. This is the biggest load of crap I’ve ever read. It’s very obvious the author has a deep resentment that this is all fueled by. You cannot do honest journalism with a bias. I came into true recovery back in 2018 without a penny to my name. I struggled to find a job at first and David and Coleman let me rack up quite a bill and trusted me to pay what I owed. They didnt have to do that. I was filling a bed that people were knocking the door down to get. If they were “all about the money” I would’ve been gone the first time I couldn’t pay. The comments I’m reading by the angry people are clear as day and I’ve seen them before. Previous participants that couldn’t follow rules so were moved along. (Most of them at least) Your fault. We’re here to change our ways of life and true recovery has 100% changed the trajectory of mine by showing me the ropes and giving me the safe place to do it. Smart people will read this and see exactly what’s going on. Someone with an axe to grind taking things out of context to fit a narrative with absolutely no concrete proof of ANYTHING. What a waste of time. David don’t waste your time with this crap. We in the community know better. You don’t have to defend yourself over this garbage. Thank you for everything you do.

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  35. People getting so upset, you know who gets upset? Guilty people. Recovery community has been turned upside down in the past few years. The whispers of operators sleeping with participants, sending money to people while in active addiction. Only two reasons someone would do this, 1) because they are using as well. Or 2) to keep their secrets. At the end of the day it’s a very positive thing that this blog is exposing all these secrets that have been probably been eating away at some of those involved. I know we have only seen two sections and there’s much more to come.

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  36. I just want to say thank you for posting this and sharing this.

    I’ve written my state reps about my concerns about $2.8 Million out of $2.84 Million staying in 1 region and VARR’s handling of these funds. Greater oversight by DBHDS is necessary. People across the state deserve access to substance abuse treatment that’s funded with state dollars- period.

    I’ve met David Rook in my recovery process and I believe he has made positive contributions to the recovery community. I do not care to comment on any controversy that is outside of my recovery experience. I don’t know jack about much of what’s said here in the comments or the internal goings on of any recovery house. That said it makes zero sense that any organization including his or even McShin receive more funding than ALL of the rest of the state outside of central VA.

    How many needy & valid organizations outside of Central VA received nothing? That alone isn’t right and on that any recovering addict should have enough sympathy & empathy to recognize. As we as a community ask for more funding to help people who are in need it’s imperative that said funds be distributed fairly. DBHDS must take a more hands-on role in the distribution of these funds, and not allow a private entity to decide where they should go. VARR as a lobbying organization has every right to advocate for more funding. I hope they persuade the state to increase funding for all recovery organizations. DBHDS should not hand off the responsibility of distribution to VARR or any private organization. DBHDS needs to decide who gets what funds and do due diligence prior and after. Otherwise the public will never know if funds are ethically distributed and those funds will always be at risk of being taken away and needy recovering addicts won’t get the necessary support.

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  37. I am a complete outsider and have never met any of these people personally. But I do have a loved one who has been involved in their programs and I have seen first hand the amount of heart, commitment, and drive to do the right thing comes from these individuals. Are their programs perfect….. of course not, but nothing ever is. That being said, I have the upmost respect for the groundbreaking work they have done when it comes to recovery and I don’t think anyone has taken a step back to see just how far the recovery community has come as a result of all of these individuals. Let me also say that he who is without sin cast the first stone. No one is perfect and everybody makes mistakes…especially when trying to navigate the red tape of the government and how to bridge the divide between what is needed in the community and how to work around all the barriers put in place to achieve that. Did these individuals make some mistakes? Or course…. who wouldn’t when dealing with all of this?!??! But did they also open the door and create a much needed foundation for recovery while doing the best they could with what they had?! Absolutely! How many of these commenters or even the author of this article even attempted to take on what these individuals took on? And if this author wants to do a full on investigation into corrupt services from grants and government money, she should direct her time and energy to the multitude of pop up agencies who say they are for “mental health support” but instead are fixing the books, creating ridiculous diagnoses to get more money and pocketing millions of dollars for themselves all in the name of “helping the community.” Many of those agencies are here today and gone tomorrow and they have absolutely no idea what they are doing. But who is shedding light on them? Who is taking a close look at them? I would love to know what that story looks like! But let me say this….. I know for a fact that the individuals named in this article have allowed individuals with certain circumstances to receive their services for free or they extended grants depending on circumstances, they have worked with families on fees and done anything and everything they could to help others in recovery get back on their feet when they needed it. But no one wants to talk about those things because it wouldn’t generate the same narrative. If we are going to make an attempt to expose these individuals for trying to build a strong recovery network then we better expose all those claiming they want better mental health services as well. Again, I don’t know who any of these people are personally, but what I do know is that we should be thanking them for taking the risks they took to provide our community with a much needed recovery support system. Because of these individuals, lives have been saved, families have been restored, the jails have alternative resources and those suffering with addiction, who would otherwise fall through the cracks, now have access to not only the recovery resources they need, but to an entire community of professionals to assist them on their recovery journey. Again, I am not saying that some things maybe should have been done differently, and in hindset maybe different decisions could have been made. But what all these individuals did to take on such a daunting and systematic problem in our area took guts, courage and grit to make happen and I don’t see anyone else on this thread doing even a fraction of that.

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  38. Ok just stop. You opened with you pretty much know nothing about our community or named people. Then point out people make mistakes. Mistakes and blatant lying, hiding, mishandling, omitting, unfairly accommodating, denying without cause, and everything that goes with that is much different than “mistakes”. Also, that’s great someone gave your friend a scholarship or what not. Did you ask you friend if they were a guy off the street or something that one of these people know? You’re basically saying all this is nonsense because you know a guy these guys helped and no one is perfect. Yeah, no thanks. Many of us already know a lot of what’s being reported, it just wasn’t with a paper trail. Now it is. So please don’t show up here and undermine the hard work that’s being used to shed light on this cesspool of our supposed govt advocate. What you don’t know is all the people who have been unfairly thrown out, abused, sexually abused, threatened, lied to, been used as pawns for these people to get what they’re really going after so until you want to make a long winded comment about all sides and not just the guy you know who is probably friends with one of the names parties, stay out of it.

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    1. I feel your pain.
      It’s challenging to read some of these comments but hey, denial is a mother fucker.
      You don’t get a free pass from the law and from fucking ethical and moral standards for helping people. You don’t get to just chalk that shit up to being an addict yourself. That’s half of these delusional people’s defense. “We help so many people, how could you say these things.” They subjected themselves to this shit when they signed up for it and took their positions. These people are really wondering why they are being looked at and judged. Ummm, you’re in charge of dispersing millions- that’s why.
      I feel really really sad for some of these people but I feel completely reassured knowing that it will all come out in the end and then guess what. I will be the person saying I told you so. Haha. Sure fucking will.
      It may take a little time but it’s coming. Don’t you worry about that. As said above… why are these people so upset? Typical guilty people behavior haha. Defensive and deflecting, pointing the figure all over the place. If they didn’t have anything to worry about they would just be carrying on as normal. Their stories don’t even add up. We HAVE all known this shit for years. I don’t know how they thought this would end well for them. Stay tuned for more my friend.

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  39. There isn’t one shred of proof of anything to be true. I’ve read every page of this and it’s all hear say and slander. That’s why it’s on a blog and nowhere else. That’s why it will never go any further than a few bad apples carrying on in the comments. Anonymous, there will always be blogs like this and people like you who believe anything. Frankly, it’s because you’re just not the brightest crayon in the box🤷. Look at ya, all wound up because people say something different than you and obsessing over the last word. Call your sponsor dude.

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    1. The mafia also owns legitimate businesses, too. Child predators often times are trusted civic leaders like Boy Scout leaders and Ministers. Most politicians claim they are for the betterment of the people and the community and we all know that’s a bunch of BS. Just saying.

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    2. There is proof. There is a clear contract between dbhds and varr outlining how the funds were intended to be distributed and emails and testimony from other varr members in regions outside of Richmond who did not receive the funds that they were entitled to. In this article the author does not state any opinions about the operators listed. The article is only facts. Funny how you say “call your sponsor” like you assume that everyone who reads this or has an opinion about this is in recovery. Normal people care how our tax dollars are spent, we care about corruption, we care about vulnerable people being exploited. It’s honestly alarming how you think that all of this is some personal vendetta. I’m not in recovery but have family members who are and from what I understand it’s important to be able to have someone to call you out on your bullshit when needed… so I’m calling bullshit. Maybe it’s you who needs to call your sponsor.

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  40. So many questions. How is [name redacted] still working in this field, after impregnating a recipient of services? How is Anthony Grimes collecting literally millions of dollars AND deciding where funds go, as a CPRS?? Please tell me he has an accounting degree. Why so many couples involved and besties?? No one sees any of this as a conflict of interest?? How is Crystal a CEO as a peer?? Coincidence that Caitlyn left True Recovery right before this article came out. Why are these people making life changing decisions about people in recovery with no oversight?? What about all the RCO’s that got zero funding bc they were all money hungry??How do they sleep at night? I have heard Rook say, “We can’t help everyone and some people are going to die, that’s the way it is.” But he does all of this out of the kindness of his heart?? 🤣 This group of people are some of the most judgmental I’ve ever come across, yet they don’t want people judging them on facts. Make it make sense. I hope and pray the whole system is overhauled based on this information. People’s lives depend on it.

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    1. Preach baby, preach.
      We all know it’s the truth.

      Also, no……Mr. Grimes has no accounting degree 🤣 Just a good ole certified peer recovery specialist.
      Dbhds really fucked up on this one huh.

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    2. WDYM with all these accusations? There’s no proof anywhere? How do we know [name redacted] got a participant pregnant? The kid proves nothing! Nobody can tell me Anthony doesn’t have an accounting degree even though people know him and it’s easily verified.. How do we know David resigned for giving meds out of the safe to an old participant in exchange for [redacted]? He himself told a bunch of people. Still doesn’t prove anything. These people are ridiculous. Someone could videotape a group conscious between those people admitting to all of it and they’d swear there was no proof.

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  42. I just want to say, I think it’s completely inappropriate that most of the questionable parties (all of them except Rook at this point) declined to comment on the blog. I assume out of fear because if I had the strong allegations against me, my livelihood, and my reputation throughout and entire large community, I’d do my best to clear my name…but they’re over on fb making fun of things like “how many newcomers did it take to buy that ring” and Coleman trying to look like a smart ass when someone questioned how people could question the validity of the blog by saying it’s all public knowledge last time he checked and all the while is fighting a legal battle not to give up any information even though VARR clearly falls under the category of non-profits accepting government funds and are compelled to share those documents when asked. And guess what, they were asked. That’s not hearsay like the rules disallow. Screenshots could be provided if there was an option to do so. I mean, I get that they’re scared, but how absolutely tacky and disgusting that this is the direction they’re going. It just shows me personally that even though they’re scared of getting caught, they still don’t feel bad for anything they’ve done. It’d also be nice if any one of them would care to shut down the rumor that Christa is a disgruntled participant or ex-employee. I’m sure they love letting people think that though.

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  43. Thank you for putting this info out there. I spent four months at Starfish last year. Please keep pursuing this story because the Bellangers are not good people. I can and will provide specific examples of their detestable behavior.

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  45. Lotus recovery should not be accredited. [Redacted], they don’t work towards recovery they just give a drug test occasionally and [redacted].

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