Crime & Safety

Huntington Beach Detox Center Where Man Died to Be Shut Down

West Coast Detox, which operated out of a residential home, came under fire last year when Jason Redmer, 28, died just four days after being admitted.

Patch editor Penny Arévalo contributed to this story. 

A Huntington Beach residence that operated as a detox and rehabilitation center will be shut down after its owner reached a settlement with a state agency that found it could not provide a safe environment for clients. 

West Coast Detox, owned and operated by Don Ramsey, came under fire last year after Jason Redmer died less than a week after being admitted. Redmer, a San Juan Capistrano resident, entered the facility in an effort to get treatment from an alcohol addiction in April 2012. 

San Juan Capistrano Patch broke the story about Redmer, including interviews with his mother, Lynne. She said her 28-year-old son was ready to turn his life around and start anew, even selling his truck to pay for the treatment. 

However, four days after being admitted, Jason was found unresponsive in his bed by a roommate. 

In the wrongful death suit filed by Lynne Redmer after her son's death, it states that Ramsey "repeatedly failed to provide a safe and healthful environment." Jason Redmer reportedly died after ingesting medications that were supposed to have been destroyed by the facility's operators. 

No official cause of death has been released, however, according to a Patch report, ADP conducted its own investigation and found certain actions – including the storage of unlocked medications and the staff’s failure to seek medical help when it was discovered Redmer had purloined and ingested the drugs – “contributed to or caused” his death.  

Ramsey said earlier this week that his staff gave clients phenobarbital or Librium, prior to meetings with doctors. Those two substances, according to the paper, are listed by the government as controlled substances. 

"It'd be like me giving you two aspirin," Ramsey told the Orange County Register. "I didn't know that that was illegal."

According to the newspaper, Ramsey reached a settlement last month with the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs (ADP) to close the facility. As part of the settlement, Ramsey will never again be able to operate a substance abuse treatment center again, and he must give up his license to do so on Sept. 15. 

The rehab facility, which is located in a residential neighborhood, has also been criticized in the past by neighbors, who claim that the facility was often a noise nuisance, and clients would often litter in the neighborhood. 

"It's like living by a house that's having a party 24 hours a day," David Rooks, who shares a back wall with the facility, told the Orange County Register. "There's people in the backyard at all hours of the night."

Last year, Lynne Redmer gave San Juan Capistrano Patch an exclusive interview recounting the last days of Jason's life. In it, she says that in her first conversation with Ramsey after being notified that Jason died, Ramsey was defensive and rambling, refusing to take any responsibility. 

Lynne added, “I had to keep interrupting him to ask what happened to Jason. It was like Ramsey didn't seem to get it that Jason passed away at his facility.” Jason's older brother Chris added, "He just kept going on about himself and didn't show concern about Jason.”

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Ramsey, himself a recovering addict, who has not spoken to the media since the incident, told the Orange County Register, "I tried to help that kid."



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