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#61
Frauds / Sober Living Homes
Last post by educatedindian - August 13, 2026, 01:47:51 PMhttps://nativenewsonline.net/health/42-arrested-in-arizona-sober-living-home-fraud-targeting-native-americans-charges-include-manslaughter/
42 Arrested in Arizona Sober Living Home Fraud Targeting Native Americans, Charges Include Manslaughter
Avatar photo
by Elyse Wild
June 26, 2026
At the press conference, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes showed images from inside the sober living homes alongside the luxurious home of one of the convicted fraudsters.
Forty-two people were arrested in Arizona this week in 10 separate cases in connection with a nearly $3 billion sober living home fraud that targeted Native Americans and left thousands missing and dead.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced the arrests on Wednesday, June 24, during a press conference. The charges range from fraudulent billing, theft and conspiracy to vulnerable adult abuse, manslaughter and negligent homicide.
Between 2019 and 2023, thousands of Native Americans in Arizona and as far away as Montana reported being kidnapped—forced into unmarked SUVs and vans under false pretenses, given alcohol and drugs such as fentanyl or methamphetamine, subjected to fraudulent mental health services, held prisoner, and eventually ejected onto the street or dropped off in remote rural areas with no means of transportation. Victims were enrolled in the American Indian Health Program through the state's Medicaid agency, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). The homes billed AHCCCS for patient care in excess of $8,000 per day per patient.
In 2018, a congressional hearing attended by an Arizona congressman had already warned about fraudulent sober living homes nationwide, preying on vulnerable individuals seeking addiction treatment. The hearing detailed reports of human trafficking, kickbacks, rapes, house managers trading drugs to residents for sex, and operators exploiting federal laws for profit.
Native advocates sounded the alarm on the abuse for years, as word spread across Indian Country of people disappearing into white vans on reservations. A class action lawsuit filed in 2024 on behalf of thousands of Native people impacted by the fraud claims that the state was made aware of the fraud as early as 2019 and failed to act. The suit alleges that 2,000 people died or are missing as a result of the scheme.
The state estimates the fraud cost taxpayers $2.8 billion.
At Wednesday's press conference, Mayes showed body camera footage of a search warrant executed at the home of a doctor convicted in 2024 in connection with the fraud. The video shows a sprawling estate with luxury vehicles and designer goods—a stark contrast to the bleak conditions in the sober living homes.
Today, nearly 180 individuals have been indicted for the fraud, 41 people have been convicted, and 200 cases are still being investigated.
While the state is cracking down on fraudsters, the danger remains. Though state officials say data indicate no fraud is occurring, advocates disagree. Reva Stewart (Diné), founder of Turtle Island Woman Warriors, a nonprofit that assists families and victims affected by the scheme, told ABC15 Arizona that she continues to see sober living home recruiters trying to poach vulnerable Native people.
"It's still happening," she said. "And it's going to continue to happen if everybody keeps pointing fingers."
42 Arrested in Arizona Sober Living Home Fraud Targeting Native Americans, Charges Include Manslaughter
Avatar photo
by Elyse Wild
June 26, 2026
At the press conference, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes showed images from inside the sober living homes alongside the luxurious home of one of the convicted fraudsters.
Forty-two people were arrested in Arizona this week in 10 separate cases in connection with a nearly $3 billion sober living home fraud that targeted Native Americans and left thousands missing and dead.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced the arrests on Wednesday, June 24, during a press conference. The charges range from fraudulent billing, theft and conspiracy to vulnerable adult abuse, manslaughter and negligent homicide.
Between 2019 and 2023, thousands of Native Americans in Arizona and as far away as Montana reported being kidnapped—forced into unmarked SUVs and vans under false pretenses, given alcohol and drugs such as fentanyl or methamphetamine, subjected to fraudulent mental health services, held prisoner, and eventually ejected onto the street or dropped off in remote rural areas with no means of transportation. Victims were enrolled in the American Indian Health Program through the state's Medicaid agency, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). The homes billed AHCCCS for patient care in excess of $8,000 per day per patient.
In 2018, a congressional hearing attended by an Arizona congressman had already warned about fraudulent sober living homes nationwide, preying on vulnerable individuals seeking addiction treatment. The hearing detailed reports of human trafficking, kickbacks, rapes, house managers trading drugs to residents for sex, and operators exploiting federal laws for profit.
Native advocates sounded the alarm on the abuse for years, as word spread across Indian Country of people disappearing into white vans on reservations. A class action lawsuit filed in 2024 on behalf of thousands of Native people impacted by the fraud claims that the state was made aware of the fraud as early as 2019 and failed to act. The suit alleges that 2,000 people died or are missing as a result of the scheme.
The state estimates the fraud cost taxpayers $2.8 billion.
At Wednesday's press conference, Mayes showed body camera footage of a search warrant executed at the home of a doctor convicted in 2024 in connection with the fraud. The video shows a sprawling estate with luxury vehicles and designer goods—a stark contrast to the bleak conditions in the sober living homes.
Today, nearly 180 individuals have been indicted for the fraud, 41 people have been convicted, and 200 cases are still being investigated.
While the state is cracking down on fraudsters, the danger remains. Though state officials say data indicate no fraud is occurring, advocates disagree. Reva Stewart (Diné), founder of Turtle Island Woman Warriors, a nonprofit that assists families and victims affected by the scheme, told ABC15 Arizona that she continues to see sober living home recruiters trying to poach vulnerable Native people.
"It's still happening," she said. "And it's going to continue to happen if everybody keeps pointing fingers."
#63
Frauds / Re: Thomas Robert Wiggers AKA ...
Last post by Sandy S - August 09, 2026, 02:22:36 AM"Thomas Whitefeather" was in Lincoln County, WA jail from 7/09/2026 to 08/04/2026. He may have been released because of wildfires in area.
A 2010 drug charge image that I uploaded here I assume is for fentanyl.
I've not worked up a chronology for all his criminal records since there are so many.
He carries his staff around, places it at various Indigenous themed sites that have signs and posts photographs of this. He claims possession of these locations. And that they are proof that he is "Chief".
A 2010 drug charge image that I uploaded here I assume is for fentanyl.
I've not worked up a chronology for all his criminal records since there are so many.
He carries his staff around, places it at various Indigenous themed sites that have signs and posts photographs of this. He claims possession of these locations. And that they are proof that he is "Chief".
#64
Etcetera / Cheap Asian knockoffs passed o...
Last post by Sparks - August 08, 2026, 01:09:31 AMhttps://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/cheap-asian-knockoffs-passed-off-authentic-native-american-jewelry-92k-ebay-scam
https://www.doi.gov/iacb/san-francisco-woman-convicted-selling-counterfeit-native-american-jewelry
https://www.doi.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2026-08/breivis-apology-letter-82026.pdf
QuoteThe Brief
A San Francisco woman was sentenced in Phoenix federal court after netting over $92,000 selling counterfeit Native American jewelry on eBay.
Molly Breivis, 57, imported knockoffs from Asia and falsely marketed them as authentic pieces by Apache, Laguna, Navajo and Zuni artisans—ignoring multiple federal warning letters along the way.
Breivis was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine, sentenced to time served and forced to post an official letter of apology to tribal artists on a federal website.
https://www.doi.gov/iacb/san-francisco-woman-convicted-selling-counterfeit-native-american-jewelry
https://www.doi.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2026-08/breivis-apology-letter-82026.pdf
#65
Etcetera / Harvard medical researcher tak...
Last post by Sparks - August 07, 2026, 03:14:10 AMhttps://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3130398/
[Placebo studies and ritual theory: a comparative analysis of Navajo, acupuncture and biomedical healing][Ted J. Kaptchuk — Program in Placebo Studies, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA]
Full PDF freely downloadable: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3130398/pdf/rstb20100385.pdf
Although the framework is looking for placebo effects, I find his paragraph on Navajo healing (not quoted here) quite interesting, and I hope his references are sound:
[Placebo studies and ritual theory: a comparative analysis of Navajo, acupuncture and biomedical healing][Ted J. Kaptchuk — Program in Placebo Studies, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA]
QuoteUsing a comparative analysis of Navajo healing ceremonials, acupuncture and biomedical treatment, this essay examines placebo studies and ritual theory as mutually interpenetrating disciplines. Healing rituals create a receptive person susceptible to the influences of authoritative culturally sanctioned 'powers'. The healer provides the sufferer with imaginative, emotional, sensory, moral and aesthetic input derived from the palpable symbols and procedures of the ritual process—in the process fusing the sufferer's idiosyncratic narrative unto a universal cultural mythos. Healing rituals involve a drama of evocation, enactment, embodiment and evaluation in a charged atmosphere of hope and uncertainty. Experimental research into placebo effects demonstrates that routine biomedical pharmacological and procedural interventions contain significant ritual dimensions. This research also suggests that ritual healing not only represents changes in affect, self-awareness and self-appraisal of behavioural capacities, but involves modulations of symptoms through neurobiological mechanisms. Recent scientific investigations into placebo acupuncture suggest several ways that observations from ritual studies can be verified experimentally.
Placebo effects are often described as 'non-specific'; the analysis presented here suggests that placebo effects are the 'specific' effects of healing rituals.
Keywords: placebo effect; ritual; Navajo healing; placebo acupuncture; biomedicine
Full PDF freely downloadable: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3130398/pdf/rstb20100385.pdf
Although the framework is looking for placebo effects, I find his paragraph on Navajo healing (not quoted here) quite interesting, and I hope his references are sound:
Quote25 Csordas, T. J. 2000 The Navajo healing project.Med. Anthropol. Q. 14, 463–475. (doi:10.1525/maq.2000.14.4.463)
26 Kim, C. & Kwok, Y. S. 1998 Navajo use of native healers. Arch. Intern. Med. 158, 2245 –2249. (doi:10.1001/archinte.158.20.2245)
27 Kluckhohn, C. & Leighton, D. 1948 The Navajo, p. 168. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
28 Spencer, K. 1957 An analysis of Navajo chantway myths. Philadelphia, PA: American Folklore Society.
29 Gill, S. D. 1977 Prayer as person: the performative force of Navajo prayer acts. Hist. Relig. 17, 143 –157. (doi:10. 1086/462785)
30 Kaptchuk, T. J. & Croucher, M. 1986 The healing arts, p. 108. London, UK: British Broadcasting Corporation.
31 Faris, J. C. 1990 The nightway. A history and a history of documentation of a Navajo ceremonial. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.
32 Csordas, T. J. 2004 Healing and the human condition: scenes from the present moment in Navajoland. Cult. Med. Psychiatry 28, 1–14. (doi:10.1023/B:MEDI. 0000018095.54422.66)
#66
Frauds / Re: Colleen Anne Santoro AKA K...
Last post by Sandy S - August 02, 2026, 09:34:39 PMSome quotes from Kaia Ra:
---
And this from a recent Q&A with a devotee:
I've also uploaded here an image she has posted of herself as apparently a martyr on a stake.
QuoteI've had many lifetimes of being persecuted and killed simply for being me, and being abused for what I can offer others.
---
And this from a recent Q&A with a devotee:
QuoteQ What is one thing about getting older that your younger self is so proud you grew through?
A I hope I can articulate the answer to your question in a way that does not polarize anyone. In all honesty, it was the journey of several major let gos:
1) Forgiving myself for willingly choosing to incarnate into the daily torture of human trafficking. I was enraged with myself for years about choosing this mission.
2) Surrendering into a public mission, which I never wanted, as a painfully sensitive psychic. Learning how to ignore the haters, the jealousy, the slander, the constant judgments and misunderstandings of others. Still learning how to grow a thicker skin, but I am getting there, and I am really really proud of that.
3) Learning how to serve others without giving myself and everything away. Still evolving on this one. Invaluable self-examination to manage the marathon of service
4) Letting go of society's shaming that a woman has to be in a committed partnership to feel whole in herself. This one took years to fully extract from within. This one may be the one I am the most proud of. There are simply no words to describe how happy and fulfilled I feel in a relationship with my own heart.
I've also uploaded here an image she has posted of herself as apparently a martyr on a stake.
#67
Frauds / Re: Thomas Robert Wiggers AKA ...
Last post by Sandy S - August 02, 2026, 05:16:58 PMI've uploaded two images here that Thomas Robert Wiggers is using to perpetuate his ongoing fraud.
The photo was taken by this studio: https://www.nostalgicglasswetplatestudio.com/
Prior website of photographer Shane Balkowitsch http://sharoncol.balkowitsch.com/wetplate.htm
This is simply a photo taken using a collodion wet plate process. It does not mean a photo of him is in a museum, it does not mean he belongs to a historical lineage, it does not mean he is confirmed of belonging to any federally recognized tribe. It does not confirm that he is who he fraudulently claims to be.
The photographer has no authority in confirming anything.
Thomas Robert Wiggers AKA Thomas Whitefeather AKA VekesohvoKomaestse is a white, non-tribal, career criminal, sovereign citizen, fraud.
The photo was taken by this studio: https://www.nostalgicglasswetplatestudio.com/
Prior website of photographer Shane Balkowitsch http://sharoncol.balkowitsch.com/wetplate.htm
This is simply a photo taken using a collodion wet plate process. It does not mean a photo of him is in a museum, it does not mean he belongs to a historical lineage, it does not mean he is confirmed of belonging to any federally recognized tribe. It does not confirm that he is who he fraudulently claims to be.
The photographer has no authority in confirming anything.
Thomas Robert Wiggers AKA Thomas Whitefeather AKA VekesohvoKomaestse is a white, non-tribal, career criminal, sovereign citizen, fraud.
#68
Frauds / Re: Colleen Anne Santoro AKA K...
Last post by Sparks - August 02, 2026, 02:17:36 AMQuote from: Sparks on August 02, 2026, 01:45:24 AMThere is another website, which, it seems, has never been mentioned before:
https:/thesophiacode.org/ Also quite comprehensive.
https://thesophiacode.org/ This is the correct, clickable link.
#69
Frauds / Re: Colleen Anne Santoro AKA K...
Last post by Sparks - August 02, 2026, 01:45:24 AMThere is another website, which, it seems, has never been mentioned before:
https:/thesophiacode.org/ Also quite comprehensive.
https:/thesophiacode.org/ Also quite comprehensive.
#70
Frauds / Re: Colleen Anne Santoro AKA K...
Last post by Sparks - August 02, 2026, 01:35:58 AMI just took a fresh look at her website: https://kaiara.com/
It's quite comprehensive, to say the least.
It's quite comprehensive, to say the least.