At least one witness was murdered during a seven-month investigation by WWL-TV, New Orleans. Another person who was interviewed was found dead under mysterious circumstances. Death threats were received by those who worked on the story.
The list of allegations from former employees, patients, a bounty hunter and others was a long one: a prominent politician makes millions by billing the state for drug treatment programs; rampant drug use at those treatment centers; sex with teenaged girls; and, rape by drug counselors.
The investigation won a Peabody and an Edward R. Murrow Award for WWL-TV, New Orleans, and anchor Bill Elder.
Here is how they put together their story.

Making a bundle on Medicaid

"This story is about a handful of politically well-connected men in New Orleans who became very rich in a short period of time," said WWL-TV anchor Bill Elder in the opening standup of his awards entry.
These men became rich by setting up so-called drug rehabilitation centers. "They charged the federal Medicaid program four times the amount that any other hospital would get for the same service," Elder explained.

It was under what was called the disproportionate share system. As an incentive to provide care to the indigent, the state and federal government came up with the disproportionate share concept.
"It was originally designed only to help charity care hospitals. However, state officials changed the rule to allow these particular programs to qualify for disproportionate share," said Elder.

Was there a conflict of interest? While it raised the question, it did not appear to be illegal.

Serious allegations from teens
When the WWL news investigators checked into the drug programs, they found a number of teenagers with behavior problems, who did not have a drug problem, but who were sent to there anyway by the Juvenile Court judges.

Their allegations were shocking:
Boy: "Everybody up there uses drugs all day long..."
Girl: "Cocaine, marijuana, alcohol, acid ..."
These youngsters claimed there was rampant sexual activity, too, promoted by the counselors, as well as rape.

People who were there told their stories

Girl: "He came in and told me if I  didn't have sex with him he would beat me up. I was scared, because he was big, and I knew he meant it."
Elder: "How old were you at the time?"
Girl: "Thirteen."
One counselor confirmed what the teenagers were saying.

Elder: "So you are saying it went unabated?"
Couns'r: "Yeah."
Elder:  "Kids were having sex as young as 11 years old?"
Counselor: "Yeah. Exactly."
Elder: "And no one moved to stop it?"
Counselor: "No one moved to stop it. It was a zoo. It was literally a zoo."

A powerful lawmaker appeared to be involved

There were similar allegations of misconduct concerning another treatment program.
One of the principal owners was a powerful state representative,  a member of the Budgetary Oversight Committee and the head of the Black Caucus.
The question posed by WWL-TV was: what sort of power did he  have within the state agencies to get some of these drug rehab contracts.
"That question is still unanswered," said WWL-TV News Director Joe Duke.

The politician refused to be interviewed and would not disclose the amount his companies received from the state for drug rehab services. However, using FOI, Elder discovered that in 1991 alone, his organization received nearly $12 million from the state.
Elder showed how the owners were profiting, visiting the "palatial mansions."
The lawmaker and his partners were building on the grounds of a country club. One mansion had an indoor bowling alley and a seven-car garage.  Supposedly, it would only be a "weekend home" to use for entertaining.

As the charges mounted,
two interviewees died

Meanwhile, Elder continued to interview people on the inside who knew what was going on.
He found:
--- Patients who confirmed they had been through the treatment program multiple times.
--- Former employees who claimed bills were submitted for services not rendered and other types of medical fraud.
--- People who had been threatened for trying to blow the whistle on the operation.
As the story unfolded, and Elder put it on the air, people called with more information.
"With each story that was on, there must have been 25 calls the next day. I followed from one lead to the other," he said.
"It is difficult to get people to go on the record, especially in a dangerous situation like this, because two of them died!" he said.

A nurse who was interviewed was found about six weeks later in an office doused with gasoline and set on fire. Her family thought she was murdered, although some said  it was suicide.
Another person interviewed was a young drug user. He was found with a bullet in his head just 24 hours after he talked to WWL-TV.
"Whether those were murders or not, it had a chilling effect on everyone after that. There were death threats against me and everybody who talked," said Elder.

A woman physician who was brave enough to speak out received so many threats that she began to carry a gun.
Her office workers confirmed the threats.
A secretary said on camera: "They tell us we need to back off, or our lives will be in danger, that if they can't get her, they will get one of us to make an example."

Even a nun was pressured

A Roman Catholic nun, who also spoke, had tremendous political pressure put on her. Her comments were the most damning of all.
Elder: "Sister Jane has dedicated her life to helping poor, destitute and hungry people in New Orleans. She went to the Black Legislative Caucus, of which ...(the lawmaker) is president, and asked for help in getting the amount of Aid To Dependent Children increased. She said he agreed at first, provided that she help him get contracts that would line his own pockets."
Sister: "He was more interested in knowing how we could help him achieve some of his contracts with Charity Hospital, more than he was eager to help us reform the welfare system here.
Elder:  "He flat out asked the question?"
Sister: "'What's in it for me?' was what he asked me. I told him, 'What's in it for you, is to help the children of Louisiana, particularly the children of your district. It didn't seem to interest him at all."

The nun began to check into stories about the treatment Centers. Sister Jane was directly involved with feeding and housing many of the patients when they were not in the drug rehab program.
Many addicts told her they were instructed to bring in certain items, such as tape recorders to help pay for the cost of their treatment.
"The people who told them this knew they had no money to buy these items. They would have to steal them in order to be treated, " the sister said.

WWL kept the pressure on

News Director Duke said at one point during the investigation he recalled the movie, All The President's Men.
"There was a great line when Jason Robards turned to the reporters and said, 'Does it bother anybody that no one else is doing this story but us?' We did this story by ourselves for at least 10 stories," said Duke.
"This is a major New Orleans political figure. There were accusations of misconduct of the worst kind toward children. There was the possibility of incorrect and illegal acts involving Medicare brought on by political pressure and political influence. And, no one else was doing the story. It was three weeks before the newspaper began running an occasional story," he said.

Authorities were slow to investigate

There was a tremendous reluctance on the part of the authorities, the Attorney General and the District Attorney, to press for an investigation, according to Duke.
"It is a political hot potato ... We were by ourselves for most of the story," he said.
However, they did not consider pulling back.
"There are times when you wish you were doing something else, because viewer intensity gets very heightened on a story like this," he said. There were charges of racism. He said that hurt.
"But when you have a job to do, you just do it," he said.
Duke said it was of great help to them that there were many people involved in the system who called quietly and said they were right on the money.
"They were black and white. They were people of the highest political order and there were people like lab technicians who were in the position to know," he said.

Station attorneys previewed all  material before it aired

Everything was documented. For every person who talked on camera, there were three or four more who said the same thing, but who were afraid to talk on the record.

"A story like this is impossible to do unless those brave people talk to you. In our case, we had people who stood up and said that this has to stop. They did it at great risk to themselves. Physically, there was the possibility they may be hurt. Whenever you are dealing with narcotics and talk about drugs, there is always a culture that is at some risk if they talk to you," Duke said.

Pols and public avoid some realities

Duke said there are certain things that our society has an inability to deal with.
"There are some things that we just want someone to take off our hands. When we have that situation, society is often lax about what is done with it," he said.
He suggested garbage is a good example. Hazardous waste was another. It was a haven for unscrupulous businesses for years, because people didn't really care what happened to it, they just wanted it off of their hands, he said.
"Drug addiction is the same way. People don't know what to do with it. The jails and prisons are filled with addicts. When someone comes along and claims to have an answer, society hands over the money. That's where we get into trouble," he said.

Politician fought back

Although the state representative refused to be interviewed by the station, he did mount his own public relations campaign.
It included:
--- A news conference with strict ground rules. Elder was allowed to attend, but  not to ask questions.
--- A half-hour video produced by journalists that the politician hired. He bought the time and the show aired on one network-affiliated television station and it played on cable over and over again for several weeks.
--- The two journalists that he hired labeled the WWL reports as "irresponsible" and "reckless."

"Once he came out and attacked me, he attacked from every angle he could --- radio, television, cable. I refused to go on a talk show and debate him," said Elder.
"I don't think reporters should get on and debate corrupt individuals they are doing stories on. I just let the facts stand on their own," he said.

Subsequently, the politician ran for mayor, spent about $1 million, and finished in fifth place.
Ultimately, what state investigators concluded was there were some technical violations, but nothing really illegal in the way the clinics were run.
The hospitals and the treatment corporation were fined $2 million.
"At least there was some penalty paid for the type of operation they were running," said Duke.

Abuses exist elsewhere

Elder believed a similar story could be done in other states. This group was in the process of setting up a similar clinic in Missouri and Georgia.
"If I were a reporter in any state with a large urban area with a large drug problem, I would start looking," he said.
He suggested using FOI searches to find the amount of money being billed by a particular rehab center.
"The real tip-off is the number of times a person goes back to the program," said Elder. Once someone enrolls, the unscrupulous operators let them out on furlough, take them shopping --- do whatever they can to keep the person in the program.

The Rundown,   July 18, 1994