A REPUTATION FOR SUCCESS

  1. Home
  2.  → 
  3. In the News
  4.  → “Rehab Mogul”: Full Episode Now Available Online

“Rehab Mogul”: Full Episode Now Available Online

On Behalf of | Jun 27, 2016 | In the News

Last week, Schimmel & Parks, APLC attorney Alan Schimmel was featured on an episode of 20/20 entitled “Rehab Mogul,” which explored the case against a Los Angeles rehab center owner who is being accused of providing drugs to vulnerable patients and trying to take sexual advantage of them. The full episode can now be streamed online on the ABC website.

Chris Bathum, owner of more than 20 sober living houses and outpatient clinics in California and Colorado, continues to deny just about every charge leveled against him. Bathum is accused of targeting and isolating multiple young women by offering them drugs, moving them to remote locations and hotel rooms, and sexually molesting them when they were unable to give consent. He is currently being sued by three former patients for sexual battery, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence. All three plaintiffs are represented by Schimmel & Parks, APLC.

This is not the first time that Bathum has been in legal trouble. He was sued for sexual battery once before in 2010. The case, also handled by Schimmel & Parks, APLC, was settled for an undisclosed amount. The plaintiff tragically died a year later as a result of her drug addiction. Bathum denies all allegations of his role in her death.

In a particularly troubling segment of this episode, Bathum is accused of overdosing on heroin in a hotel room with three of his victims. Although records and video evidence clearly show that Bathum was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance on that evening, he vehemently claims that this is a falsehood designed to smear his reputation.