EVERETT, Wash. — A clean-and-sober program has been derailed after its owner was arrested on drug trafficking charges.
Fifty-year-old Tim Rehberg is accused of hiding drugs like crystal methamphetamine and heroin, right under the noses of people trying to become drug-free.
When Michelle Porter moved into what residents there call "the mansion" in Everett four months ago, she trusted it would be what it was advertised as -- clean and sober.
She was and says most of the others there were too. Investigators say just feet from where they were living, though, there were enough drugs to jeopardize everyone's sobriety.
"It's disgusting, I'm appalled," Michelle told us when we spoke with her outside the mansion.
Rehberg, a recovering addict, runs the nonprofit I.C. Clean People Recovery Housing. He managed the mansion and two other houses, mostly for recovering addicts.
"He's had multiple years clean, as far as I knew, and it was inspirational, he. He was doing really good," a woman, who didn't want to be identified for safety reasons, told us on the porch of one of Rehberg's other houses.
Drug enforcement officers on Tuesday raided the garage behind the mansion that served as Rehberg's office.
They confiscated a pound of meth, half-pound of heroin, oxycodone and methadone.
"I came out and there were officers," Michelle said of the raid.
Investigators say that for a month leading up to the bust, Rehberg sold drugs to undercover informants.
Michelle feels betrayed.
"It's really sad that he would have a house like this, have people under the pretense that it was clean and sober, and not have our backs," she told us.
Tenants at one of Rehberg's other properties are heartbroken.
"I had no idea," the woman who didn't want to show her face told us.
She celebrated one year clean and sober Thursday.
"This is the life I was getting away from, and it's really sad that I have to be a part of it -- again."
A huge concern is now will these people have to leave their houses? We know that Rehberg owns two of them.
Most residents us if they're asked to leave-- they don't have anywhere else to go.
Cox Media Group
