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Home Seeking Victims in the Phoenix Group Homes Targeting Native Americans Investigation

Seeking Victims in the Phoenix Group Homes Targeting Native Americans Investigation

The FBI is seeking victims who may have been recruited to live in and receive services in group homes (Behavioral Health Residential Facilities) located in Phoenix, Arizona, between January 2020 to present.

Organizers are establishing group homes for adults with substance abuse and mental health issues throughout Phoenix, Arizona, and the surrounding valley area. Organizers are targeting Native Americans from the Navajo Nation and other reservations in Arizona, New Mexico, and South Dakota. Organizers frequent community gathering locations such as flea markets, trading posts, and medical centers to pick up clients.

In some cases, the targeted individuals are intoxicated or offered alcohol during transport. When the individuals regain a functional state in Phoenix (or other locations), they have no idea where they are or how they got there. The individuals then have difficulty finding a way home. The circumstances have led to a number of missing persons reports being received by local law enforcement agencies.

The organizers of the group homes are receiving government funding to provide tenants with therapy services for mental illness and substance abuse. The organizers have the tenants visit other facilities purporting to provide therapy services the entire day. Often, no therapy services are provided and therefore, no government funding should be received. The group homes and other facilities receiving government funds for the same services purportedly provided creates “double-dipping” of government funding.

The organizers allegedly tell the tenants that they have to change their identification cards (e.g., driver’s license) to Arizona to obtain Arizona Medicaid benefits (AHCCCS). The tenants are also told to obtain food stamps to provide food for the residents in a home or as rent payment to the organizers. The organizers use the current clients as recruiters for additional clients, who often do not understand the circumstances they will be living in.

If you or a family member was recruited to a group home located in Phoenix, Arizona,, during the time period listed above, please complete this brief questionnaire. Your responses are voluntary but would be useful in the federal investigation and to identify you as a potential victim. Based on the responses provided, you may be contacted by the FBI and asked to provide additional information.

The FBI is legally mandated to identify victims of federal crimes that it investigates and provide these victims with information, assistance services, and resources.

Resources

- Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Resources / Nationwide locator: https://www.samhsa.gov/

- Victim Connect Resource Center: https://victimconnect.org/
VictimConnect Resource Center (VCRC) is a weekday phone, chat, and text-based referral helpline operated by the National Center for Victims of Crime. Services are available for all victims of crime in the United States and its territories. Visitors to the hotline receive strength-based and trauma-informed services and referrals in over 200 languages.

Contact Information
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Questionaire

 

Privacy Act Statement

The FBI is authorized to collect the information on this form by one or more of the following provisions: Title 28, United States Code, sections 533 and 534; Title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, section 0.85; and the Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance. The information requested will assist the FBI in providing you with assistance to which crime victims are entitled under federal law. You do not have to provide the requested information; however, failure to do so may hinder the FBI in providing you with crime victim assistance. The information collected on this form is protected by the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, Title 5, United States Code section 552a, and is maintained in the FBI’s Central Records System, DOJ/FBI-002, a description of which was published in the Federal Register at 63 Fed. Reg. 8671 (Feb. 20, 1998) and which may be viewed at www.justice.gov/opcl/doj-systems-records#doj