A rehab center in rural Tennessee has been shut down after a 9-1-1 call led investigators to a locked facility.
Inside, they found Scientology literature. Investigators said the staff wasn't qualified to care for its patients.
The facility is called Life Center for a New Tomorrow. Deputies said they found a man inside who said he was being mistreated, falsely imprisoned and treated through Scientology.
They were responding to a 9-1-1 hang-up call.
“The workers there, the manager and other staff were Scientologists, there was a great deal of Scientology paraphernalia found throughout the facilities,” said Trevor Lynch, assistant district attorney.
Lynch said deputies found two patients there, one of whom had a mental illness. The other was being treated for substance abuse.
“This facility was not capable for caring for the individuals it was taking in,” Lynch said.
Three people were eventually arrested. Dennis Flamond and Hans Lytle were charged with false imprisonment, and another man, Marc Vallieres was charged with facilitation of kidnapping.
All of them pleaded either guilty or gave a plea that’s similar to no contest, and entered judicial diversion, meaning the charges could be expunged if the three stay out of trouble.
They agreed to shut down the facility they were running.
NewsChannel 5 in Nashville tried contacting the attorney representing the people arrested, but phone calls were not returned.
This is not the first time that Life Center for a New Tomorrow has faced scrutiny. In 2014, the state cited the facility for not having records of background checks or annual training for employees on file, and having residents at the facility that they weren't licensed for, among other violations.
