Salcido speaking to Fox | Photo: YouTube/Fox11 Los Angeles
A former patient at a rehabilitation facility in Palm Desert, California is suing after he says an employee coerced him into sexual acts in exchange for drugs.
FOX11, who intially reported the story, kept the man’s name private as he is a potential sex victim. Throughout their reporting, they call him Robert and it will be the same in this story.
Robert began looking at treatment options in January 2017. He was a heroin addict living in New York and wanted a better relationship with his daughter. His research brought him to Sovereign Health Group and their facility in Palm Desert.
‘I don’t know if anybody watching this has experienced heroin withdrawals, but it feels like you’re dying from the inside out,’ he said in the news reel.
Robert moved into an apartment controlled by the company. It was the building manager, Adam Salcido, who made the sexual proposals.
‘He proposed to me that if I would allow him to perform sexual acts and favors on me, that he would give me free drugs,’ Robert explained. He added he was in ‘severe withdrawals’ at the time.
Robert described one instance in particular: ‘There was one point where he had me trapped in the pantry in the kitchen, throwing himself at me, waving the money in my face, I made him give me half of the money before the oral sex.
‘He saw a man in pain, imagine having the flu and the doctor waving the antidote or the medicine right in your face, you’re gonna do anything you can to get yourself better.’
Salcido then allegedly gave Robert the money, who went to a nearby park and bought drugs.
Following that instance, he relapsed and willingly left the facility against medical advice.
Now he’s suing
Robert is now suing both Salcido and Sovereign Health.
‘Unfortunately, my client was weak, he was fragile, and he felt he had no other choice but to comply,’ said attorney Doug Rochen, who is representing Robert.
‘They gave him money, they gave him access, all of that was at the cost of him having to feel as if he was gay, when he was a heterosexual male, by forcing him to receive oral sex.’
Robert also said Salcido told him he was previously suspended for doing this same thing.
The lawsuit also states Salcido had no medical background. Rochen doubled down on this: ‘I am confident that Mr. Salcido had no certification or qualifications beyond the fact that he knew somebody at Sovereign Health, and he had a heartbeat.’
FOX11 also reportedly found Salcido at a supermarket near Coachella. He said he did not remember any of this, before stating: ‘That’s what you call a drug addict who makes up lies.’
Robert is now clean, living with his family in New York, and going to school to be a barber.
H/t: FOX11
More from Gay Star News
What happens when you go into rehab?
Frankie Grande ‘beyond heartbroken’ over Mac Miller’s death
Crystal meth use is on the rise in Israel’s LGBTI community
