Meehan Asks for Licenses to Operate Rehab Sites

Bob Meehan, operator of three controversial drug and alcohol abuse facilities in North County, has applied for licenses to keep the programs going.

Tom Hersant, head of the state’s San Diego office of Community Care Licensing, said Meehan applied for the licenses late Thursday afternoon. Meehan’s applications came after the Department of Social Services sought an injunction to close the unlicensed facilities.

Hersant said Friday that it will take about 90 days to review the applications. However, the department has asked the California attorney general to push for the injunction while the applications are being considered. Initially, department officials were hoping for an injunction to be issued as early as Friday, but a department attorney said that a request for the injunction will not be filed in Superior Court before next week.

Meehan, 42, operates three facilities in Escondido: the Sober Live-In Center on Quailridge Road, a daytime therapy center for SLIC clients on 8th Street, and a “drop-in” center on Valley Parkway. Some of Meehan’s clients, mostly teen-agers and young adults who are addicted to drugs or alcohol, pay as much as $5,000 for a 30-day program designed to rid them of their addictions.

The controversial Meehan was released in 1971 from a federal prison in Kentucky after serving time for a felony drug conviction. Bill McCarty, Meehan’s attorney, said Meehan was pardoned for that conviction. Hersant said that Meehan’s record will not necessarily hamper his chances of obtaining the licenses.

“We don’t necessarily reject people because they have been on drugs or alcohol. His prior felony record is no secret. We’ve issued licenses to facilities that have former drug addicts and people with convictions on the staff. We look at what their history has been since,” Hersant said.

McCarty said that Meehan’s chances of getting the licenses are “excellent.” He also disputed reports that Meehan had ignored previous warnings from the state to obtain operating licenses for the facilities.

State officials said that, in 1985, Meehan was denied a license for a facility on Oakvale Road when it failed to meet fire safety, water and sanitation standards. McCarty said that Meehan upgraded the group home but later decided to close it in order to open the three facilities that he operates today.

“We looked at the code and didn’t think that they (the homes) required a license. The state quite candidly admitted to us that they don’t look at a home unless they receive a complaint about it,” McCarty said.

In this case, complaints were filed by self-styled consumer advocate Captain Sticky, and former program participants and employees. Meehan’s critics charged that his controversial tactics divided families and made him a cult figure.