Nevada lawmakers fund oversight of Las Vegas youth clinics

Nevada lawmakers approved nearly $485,000 in funding to regulate an operator of youth residential mental health facilities in Las Vegas after a recent court order allowed them to move forward investigating allegations of neglect and abuse in four of its properties.

Legislators on the Interim Finance Committee on Thursday moved the reserve funding for the Nevada Health Authority’s health care facility regulation, a week after the agency suspended and revoked the licenses for the Moriah Behavioral Health facilities and its subsidiaries, Ignite Teen Treatment and Eden Treatment.

“This is just heartbreaking and horrifying that we would put kids in this situation, and it took us so long, it seems, to address it,” Assemblymember Tracy Brown-May, D-Las Vegas, said during the meeting.

Revocation records indicate the health insurance division has received 36 complaints about potential state and federal law violations since July 2024. State officials attributed part of that delay to the investigative process.

The funding follows a November District Court ruling that dissolved a temporary restraining order preventing regulators in the Health Authority from accessing records, patients and the four facilities. Attorneys for Moriah sued the state in early November, alleging it overstepped in its investigative authority.

Moriah’s website describes their services as “intensive, 24-hour care for adolescents facing significant emotional, behavioral, or mental health challenges,” such as eating disorders, depression and addiction.

Two of the houses have been shuttered, according to Nevada Health Authority Director Stacie Weeks. There are now nine children living in two homes, which are licensed as psychiatric residential treatment centers and not group homes, she told lawmakers. She told lawmakers the state hoped to have the children placed in new facilities by early next week.

She said the money will be used to hire a temporary management team that assesses the records and children to ensure they receive proper treatment and medication.

“It’s pretty sad and really hard and traumatizing on these kids,” she said. So, we want to make sure where we send these kids, that if they do need a state residential treatment, that it’s a safe facility and one that we feel strongly that’s quality care.”

Inspectors said facilities had incomplete medical records and hazardous housing conditions. The license revocation notices from Dec. 11 also said staff refused to provide evidence of required physician direction and of “the competency and qualifications of staff providing care and treatment, including high-risk psychiatric medications, to children.”

Attorneys representing the Moriah facilities did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday afternoon.

Family, neighbors urge action

Multiple speakers during public comment urged lawmakers to regulate Moriah facilities, alleging mistreatment, mismanagement and abuse for the youth living under the facilities’ care.

Parent Shailee Kimenker said she removed her daughter from a Moriah home in Nevada after six weeks when she “realized something was terribly wrong there.”

She said staff used physical restraints as punishment for verbal resistance, made comments suggesting self-harm and encouraged fights among the children. She also said the facility did not provide her daughter with the 24/7 nursing and accredited education she expected.

Neighbors described the facilities – large homes within residential neighborhoods in southwest Las Vegas – as going beyond “terrible neighbors.” Kara Matthews, who told lawmakers she moved across the street from one Moriah facility three and a half years ago, said her family observes teens running away from the home, frequent police calls and fights.

“I have police presence in front of my home up to four times a day,” Matthews told lawmakers during public comment. “It makes it hard to have guests over. It makes it hard to have other children over, because I also have children who live in my home. I am constantly berated by the staff and the children. I’m being called names. I’m being sworn at. I can’t go up and down my street with the kids being outside without being harassed.”

Lawmakers said the allegations left them speechless. Weeks said she hoped the Nevada Legislature would consider bills in the 2027 session that would create new regulations like a required census of every child in one of these facilities.

“We have no idea right now who has been through these homes and where they are,” Weeks said. “And I think we need that so we can ensure who is being taken care of. Even if they are paid for by Medicaid in another state, these kids, when they’re in our state, we need to be responsible for them.”

Civil case pending

State and county regulators had tried to enter the homes to conduct investigations but were barred entry because of the restraining order. Officials were following up on allegations of physical and sexual abuse, neglect and lack of protective supervision, according to a Nov. 12 motion from the Nevada Attorney General’s office in the civil lawsuit brought by the business.

Most recently, the state requested an order to shorten the District Court timeline. A hearing is scheduled for Monday, district court records show. State attorneys are also seeking a court order to allow investigators into all Moriah facilities.

In back-and-forth correspondence, Moriah attorneys dispute the need for state intervention and the allegations presented in the revocation notice.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.