Couple seek refunds from rehab homes

A recovering drug addict was called homophobic slurs, held against his will and forced to repeat Scientology lessons at a pair of Southern California rehab homes, including one in Newport Beach, according to a lawsuit filed in Nevada County.

In a lawsuit filed June 29 claiming breach of contract, misrepresentation and attempts at religious conversion, Sarah Locatelli claims her husband, Daniel, received no drug treatment, education or otherwise for the $20,000 they paid to Narconon Southern California in Newport Beach and Narconon Joshua Hills in Palm Desert in February 2008.

Daniel and Sarah Locatelli were looking for a program to help keep Daniel off methamphetamines, which he’d stopped using three weeks before they found Narconon.

The rehab homes are two of more than 100 Narconon homes worldwide that aim to rehabilitate people based on the program set out by L. Ron Hubbard, who’s also the man behind Scientology, according to the organization’s website.

Sarah Locatelli, who with her husband and two kids lives in Grass Valley, a community more than an hour north of Sacramento, filed the lawsuit because she paid for her then-fiance’s treatment.

She claims that Narconon required $20,000 up front to pay for the first few months of treatment.

She claims that Daniel left after four days in the program, the first two in Newport Beach’s Narconon Southern California, 1810 W. Oceanfront, and the last two in the Palm Desert branch, because they never addressed drug rehabilitation or addiction, or offered 24-hour doctor’s care like they promised.

Employees at Narconon Southern California did not return calls for comment.

Locatelli’s lawsuit goes on to say they were suckered into signing up for Narconon by a hotline that appeared to have no affiliation with the rehab organization, though it did.

Though Daniel Locatelli did not need to be “detoxed” of drugs — he had been sober for weeks according to the lawsuit — he needed a program to help him maintain his sobriety, Locatelli claims.

After shelling out more than $20,000 to pay for the first few months of treatment, the lawsuit claims Locatelli was taken to the Newport Beach facility and put through an unnecessary “detox” program.