Editor’s Note: This story consists of descriptionsof sexual misconduct and substance use disorders Readers might discover information in the story troubling and disturbing.
Elizabeth left of Green Mountain Treatment Center in 2017 on what she referred to as a spiritual high. She was freshly sober and fired up to begin the next chapter of her recovery from opioid addiction.
Those sensations were short lived. Simply one day after leaving treatment, she stated she got unsolicited, specific Snapchat messages, consisting of a picture of a penis and invites to fulfill for sex.
The material of these messages disrupted her, however it was the sender that broke her. The messages originated from Eric Spofford, the creator of Granite Recovery Centers (GRC), the moms and dad business of the facility Elizabeth had actually simply left. Spofford is one of the most popular and prominent figures in New Hampshire’s reaction to the opioid epidemic.
2 weeks later on, Elizabeth fell back. She started utilizing opioids once again. While regressions are common in recovery, she stated Spofford’s harassment, “certainly, certainly, 100% set me back in my recovery.” NHPR concurred to determine Elizabeth by her middle name just, since she’s worried about the consequences of speaking openly.
Elizabeth is not alone. An NHPR examination has actually found numerous accusations of sexual misconduct, violent management, and retaliation by Spofford while he was CEO of GRC.
A previous GRC staff member informed NHPR that in 2018, Spofford sexually attacked her throughout the workday. In 2020, according to numerous sources, another GRC staff member informed numerous coworkers that Spofford had actually sexually attacked her, leading some of them, consisting of the chief running officer, to gave up the business. Several sources state Spofford informed them he worked out a paid settlement with this staff member that had the effect of silencing her.
GRC is the largest provider of substance use disorder treatment in New Hampshire and serves thousands of people throughout New England each year, at a time when the requirement for treatment continues to exceed accessibility. Lots of customers, consisting of some who spoke with NHPR, state they have GRC to thank for their recovery.
However in interviews with almost 50 previous customers, existing and previous staff members, and others in New Hampshire’s recovery community, a dark picture emerges of Spofford as a polarizing figure who preyed on susceptible people and wielded his power to prevent effects.
Spofford did not react to particular questions about the accusations. His attorney, Mitchell Schuster, stated in a composed declaration, “Mr. Spofford rejects any supposed misconduct– in specific, the sexual attack allegations, which are not just unconditionally incorrect, however defamatory in nature.” Schuster threatened legal action if NHPR released its story.
” Eric Spofford,” Schuster composed, “has actually invested most of his adult life pulling thousands of people out of the depths of addiction, depression and injury.”
The declaration continues, “Some recuperating addicts are distinctively fit to work in the field and are able to use their previous experiences to help others in require. Others relapse and go back to the lies that unfortunately go hand-in- hand with addiction.”
Schuster likewise stated that “previous and existing” GRC staff members “declined to prove these incorrect accusations.” However when asked to provide contact information so NHPR might speak with these people, Schuster did not react.
” The recovery market requires a ‘Me Too’ motion.”
Piers Kaniuka, previous GRC director of spiritual life
These accusations, reported openly for the very first time here, raise unpleasant questions about Spofford’s management, the business that made him rich, and New Hampshire’s dependence on Spofford to deal with the opioid epidemic.
As the scale of the epidemic swelled over the previous years, so did Spofford’s prominence At an look with Spofford in July 2021 at GRC’s business workplaces in Salem, Gov. Chris Sununu promoted Spofford, stating he is “one of the very first men I’ll get the phone to” for suggestions about reacting to theopioid crisis Sununu’s workplace did not react to numerous demands for remark.
In December 2021, Spofford revealed he offered GRC to BayMark Health Solutions, a Texas-based treatment business, for an concealed amount. (Spofford stated the quantity was “more cash than I ‘d ever seen in my whole life.”) In a declaration to NHPR, a BayMark agent stated the business “can not provide remark on ideas or accusations that relate to period prior to our ownership and management.” BayMark did not react to NHPR’s questions about whether BayMark understood, previous to the sale, of Spofford’s declared behavior.
GRC’s site does not note an existing CEO. A request for remark to the business’s chief financial officer went unanswered.
Spofford is now 37. This month, he bought a waterside house in Miami for $20.75 million. He has actually revealed aspirations to stay in the addiction treatment market and broaden across the country. Calling himself a “soldier without a war” in a current YouTube series, Spofford stated he’s “looking at doing it once again.”
However people who worked with Spofford and saw his behavior state he needs to not be in the addiction treatment field.
“He ought to be avoided, shamed and most likely prosecuted,” stated Piers Kaniuka, the previous director of spiritual life at GRC, who composed a book with Spofford in 2019 called “ Genuine People Genuine Recovery“.
Kaniuka stated that when he went to work at GRC, he understood “completely well that [Spofford] had liabilities. I definitely didn’t understand he was going to end up to resemble Harvey Weinstein. I would not have [joined the company] if I had actually understood that.”
He included, “The recovery market requires a ‘Me Too’ motion.”
Preying on vulnerabilities
Recently, there has actually been no lack of headings and suits exposing sexual harassment and attack by effective males. In Spofford’s case, he worked with an particularly susceptible population: people having a hard time to recuperate from substance use disorder, who have often skilled homelessness, abuse or sexual injury.
When Elizabeth initially fulfilled Spofford, she was in her mid-20s. She had a history of heroin addiction and informed NHPR she had actually fallen back after a major bike mishap. When she was at Green Mountain Treatment Center– GRC’s flagship facility– in 2017, she keeps in mind Spofford was tough to miss out on. He ‘d fly to the Effingham school in a helicopter, landing in the front backyard. On Elizabeth’s last day of treatment, she stated Spofford asked her to have lunch with him and another coworker in the Green Mountain snack bar.
Elizabeth figured Spofford talked to her since they had a palin common Or since she was “scholarshipped,” implying she got complimentary treatment on Spofford’s sign- off– a common practice, according to numerous previous GRC staff members.
Customers or their households normally pay for treatment out-of- pocket or through personal insurance or Medicaid Costs differ extensively throughout the market, however a single day of inpatient treatment can cost numerous hundred dollars. NHPR evaluated text and internal files that validate Elizabeth got her 2017 treatment at no cost.
Elizabeth invested one month at Green Mountain, detoxing and then participating in group sessions, finding out the 12-step approach of recovery, and bonding with staff and other customers. She left in a “truly, truly excellent location.”
The next day, she stated Spofford connected to her on Snapchat.
She remembered the messages he sent out: “He was currently preparation to come see me, desired to take me out, desired to do specific things with me, was sending me photos– cock photos.”
NHPR has actually not seen any Snapchat messages sent out by Spofford. Videos, pictures and messages sent out through Snapchat vanish after the recipient views them. If the recipient takes a screenshot to conserve the message, the sender is alerted.
Elizabeth stated she informed 2 buddies about the messages at the time. One of them passed away of an overdose quickly later on. The 2nd, Justin Downey, separately verified Elizabeth’s story in an interview with NHPR.
” What makes this person believe this type of behavior is OKAY with a woman this susceptible?” Downey stated. The CEO of a treatment center, he included, is “expected to have limits.”
Spofford’s messages sent out Elizabeth into a complex mental spiral, simply as she was attempting to reorient her life.
” A CEO of a treatment center I left 24 hr ago ought to not be sending me photos of his cock,” she stated. “That’s simply stability 101, right?”
At the very same time, Elizabeth stated stated it was a susceptible minute in her life.
” A lady who’s a month sober does not enjoy herself yet, does not even understand who she is, does not feel any recognition from anything within herself,” Elizabeth informed NHPR. “I seemed like this male that has actually provided himself with all this power and eminence and cash, which has actually been pushed in my face for thirty days, desires me. So I need to suffice.”
Elizabeth concerned about the effects of declining Spofford. “I believe that’s common for ladies,” she stated. “He simply painted himself practically bigger than life, right? So I can’t screw with him or make him disturbed.”
” A CEO of a treatment center I left 24 hr ago ought to not be sending me photos of his cock. That’s simply stability 101, right?”
Elizabeth, a previous GRC customer
She feared Spofford may taint her track record or even trigger her to lose her bed in the sober house where she moved aftertreatment So she stated that while she didn’t motivate Spofford’s advances and never ever fulfilled up with him, she didn’t clearly inform him to stop sending out the messages.
Elizabeth stated the messages continued periodically over the next 2 years. She remembered a message he sent out in 2019, after she saw Spofford at an occasion he was participating in with his sweetheart.
“He texted me as quickly as I left, informing me how excellent my a ** looked, that he desired to fulfill up with me and f *** me,” she stated.
A worker declares sexual attack
NHPR reporting shows that Spofford likewise maltreated ladies who worked for him. More than a lots previous GRC staff members informed NHPR they have actually understood for years that Spofford acted wrongly with femalestaff These sources vary from high-ranking supervisors to entry-level staff
NHPR has actually found out of sexual attack accusations including at least 2 of Spofford’s staff members. To prevent confusion while safeguarding the ladies’s identities, NHPR will refer to them as Staff Member A and Staff Member B.
Worker A concurred to inform her story to NHPR on the condition that her name be kept since she fears Spofford will strike back versus her. She started working at GRC in an entry-level function at one of the business’s sober houses, and she stated she loved her task. Things began to “get unusual,” she stated, when she was promoted to a manager position.
Around 2018, Spofford began sending her relatively harmless messages on Snapchat. Slowly, Worker A stated, the interactions ended up being improper: a message about how sex was part of his 12-step work. Then photos of Spofford shirtless. And after that, photos of his penis.
As the pictures intensified, Worker A stated, she got “very worried.” She had a rap sheet, and she felt indebted to Spofford for offering her an opportunity.
” I required to do whatever it took to keep this task,” she stated.
She would react to his messages with one-word responses to appear responsive however not motivating, she stated.
” A lot of people that I worked with put Eric on this pedestal of: ‘Eric is the best male in recovery,'” Worker A stated. “I was not about to be the individual to state otherwise.”
” A lot of people that I worked with put Eric on this pedestal of: ‘Eric is the best male in recovery.’ I was not about to be the individual to state otherwise.”
Staff Member A
In the middle of this, Spofford asked Worker A for a one-on- one conference in his workplace. She remembers that when she showed up, he closed the door, began kissing her, and then got a prophylactic from his desk drawer. She didn’t understand how to respond.
She stated they had sex on a sofa in Spofford’s workplace. She informed NHPR she did not desire to do it, “however I didn’t understand how to inform him no.”
Initially, Worker A didn’t inform anybody what took place. She stated Spofford kept asking her for conferences, however she comprised reasons to prevent him.
A couple of months later on, she stated, Spofford saw her at GRC’s head office having lunch with a male coworker she had actually dated. Spofford began “screaming and yelling and informing me to leave the residential or commercial property,” she stated.
Worker A stated she challenged Spofford about his response. She was fired the next day by her instant employer, who informed her the cause was insufficient work. However Worker A thinks it was retaliation by Spofford.
3 sources separately verified information of Worker A’s story.
In an interview with NHPR, one of them, a pal, remembered an anguished phone call not long after Worker A was fired. The pal stated Worker An informed her about the shooting, the Snapchat messages, the prophylactics in Spofford’s desk drawer and an undesirable sexual proposal.
‘ An extremely popular drug addict’
Spofford built GRC with his individual story at its center: a teenage heroin user turned CEO of a multi-million dollar business, whose battles made him especially delicate to the requirements of his customers. Till just recently, GRC’s homepage included a big picture of Spofford and the quote, “Where you’re going, I have actually been.”
According to the book Spofford and Kaniuka released in 2019, “Genuine People Genuine Recovery,” he matured in Salem. His dad ran a logging business. His moms and dads broke up when he was in 5th grade. He started offering marijuana and, by his mid-teens, he was offering and utilizing opioids.
” At just 15,” he composes, “I was a full-blown heroin addict.”
Spofford left of high school and lived a tough life of heroin addiction, drug trafficking and homelessness. He stated he overdosed 5 times and went to prison numerous times. (NHPR might just validate one overdose and one arrest and associated prison time in Maine, for bring a hidden weapon.)
Spofford stated he lastly stopped utilizing drugs for excellent in 2006, at the age of 21. 2 years later on, with financial support from his dad, Spofford protected a loan to purchase a home in Derry. Spofford turned the structure into an 11-bed sober living facility, The Granite Home, and he became its very first local.
Spofford began his organization as overdose deaths were starting a high, stable climb in New England. From that very first sober house, GRC became a vast treatment network that now consists of 3 residential treatment centers, detox, outpatient treatment and numerous sober houses. The requirement for treatment was– and stays– tremendous; in 2019, Spofford stated he had a waiting list of 40 to 60 people a day.
Part of GRC’s development has actually been sustained by state agreements consisting of, considering that 2019, more than $3 million dollars in no-bid agreements to momentarily home people waiting for treatment or in requirement of shelter
If his social networks and other public commentary are any sign, Spofford grew rich as his organization broadened. He often posts photos and videos of his journeys by high-end automobile, luxury yacht and personal jet.
As GRC’s footprint grew, so did Spofford’s track record. Spofford has actually been consistently admired by New Hampshire political leaders and magnate. In 2015, then-U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte welcomed him to Washington, D.C., to affirm at a Senate hearing on opioid abuse In 2018, he was acknowledged by the U.S. Small Company Administration as “Young Business Owner of the Year for New Hampshire and New England.”
This previous summer season, Sununu stood side by side with Spofford for a media event at GRC’s home office in Salem. Sununu enthusiastically applauded the business, stating, “They’re ingrained in theircommunity People understand them. It’s terrific.” He included that New Hampshire requires “more of this all throughout the state.”
In 2019, GRC was set to host a see at its head office from then-Vice President Mike Pence. It was canceled at the eleventh hour, when White Home authorities recognized that a high-ranking GRC staff member and buddy of Spofford’s, Jeff Hatch, had actually been captured trafficking fentanyl throughout state lines. (Hatch was just recently sentenced to 3 years probation.)
Spofford has actually leaned into his political connections, while worrying his versus-all- chances increase to power. “What an unusual claim to popularity: I’m an extremely popular drug addict in this state,” he stated at a GRC occasion in 2018. “I understand the guv personally. I understand the commissioner. I understand most of the legislation.”
Spofford held a charity event in 2015 for a Republican congressional prospect at his Windham house. In 2020, he had VIP gain access to to a rally for previous President Donald Trump. Granite Recovery Centers, under Spofford’s management, provided $ 7,000 to Sununu’s project. Spofford has likewise personally contributed $ 7,000 to Sununu. In 2019, he contributed $10,000 to the New Hampshire GOP.
He has actually cultivated an individual brand name on social networks, using unvarnished ideas about entrepreneurship. For instance, in one video for his 174,000 Instagram fans, Spofford provided 2 “essential tools” for winning in organization: “figuring it the f *** out” and “balls.” He states, “I believe balls is one of the most crucial components to success that you can potentially discover.”
Now that Spofford has actually offered GRC, he is constructing a new business, Spofford Enterprises, which explains itself as an entrepreneurial financial investment company The company’s site states it has workplaces in both Salem, N.H. and Miami, Florida, and Spofford has made it clear on social networks that Miami is where he sees his future.
Part of that future is opening new addiction treatment centers, according to Spofford’s numerous “Day in the Life” YouTube videos. A cam follows him as he explores centers throughout the nation. He’s declared on social networks to have actually bought residential or commercial properties in Texas, New Jersey and Ohio.
An exodus of staff after accusations come to light
The last straw for Brian Stoesz and Piers Kaniuka came in the spring of 2020. Stoesz, the chief running officer at GRC, had actually just been in his task a couple of months, however Kaniuka, the business’s director of spiritual life, had actually understood Spofford for years.
In “Genuine People Genuine Recovery,” the book he co-authored with Kaniuka, Spofford composed, “Piers was the very first individual I had actually fulfilled in recovery who made good sense to me.” Spofford stated he was 19 when he fulfilled Kaniuka at adetox facility Kaniuka later on became his sponsor in the recovery process.
In 2016, Kaniuka concurred to sign up with GRC’s staff, and he was a popular existence amongst customers. He stated at initially, he didn’t think the reports about Spofford’s treatment of ladies.
” I fault myself for not coming to this quicker,” he informed NHPR, “however I’m not the only one.”
NHPR has actually found out that at least 4 staff members, consisting of Stoesz and Kaniuka, gave up GRC in the spring of 2020 since of accusations that Spofford sexually attacked an staff member and then struck back versus her. Another member of the management group was fired as an outcome of the fallout.
Kaniuka, Stoesz and Nancy Bourque, GRC’s previous Human being Resources Director, all stated they spoke straight with this staff member. This staff member decreased to be spoken with for this story. Since of that, NHPR is not utilizing her name and will just expose minimal information of the accusations. NHPR will refer to her here as Staff Member B.
Bourque shared with NHPR handwritten notes she took throughout her discussion with Staff Member B. They consist of the words “limits” and “predator.”
Bourque and Stoesz stated Spofford brought in a mediator, an lawyer, to check out the accusations and talkwith staff Stoesz stated Spofford attempted to prime him for his interview, stating to Stoesz, “Simply keep in mind … there’s not a shred of fact with anything [Employee B] states.” Neither Bourque nor Stoesz ever saw the outcomes of any internal examination, and Bourque stated she was not spoken with.
Bourque shared with NHPR handwritten notes she took throughout her discussion with Staff Member B. They consist of the words “limits” and “predator.”
Stoesz stated he called his better half and informed her, “I do not have much, however I do have a track record. I do not desire any association with anything here.” He then resigned quickly from GRC.
For Kaniuka, the allegations struck particularly tough since he understood Worker B well. He chose to resign. He informed NHPR he desired his departure to “make things truly troublesome and uncomfortable for [Spofford], and my hope was that this was going to snowball from that pointon However it never ever did.”
Worker B left the business not long after Bourque, Stoesz and Kaniuka found out of the accusations. The scenarios of her departure are uncertain, however numerous sources informed NHPR that Spofford stated he set up a paid settlement with Staff Member B that had the effect of silencing her.
Bourque remembers that Spofford stated a settlement had actually been signed, informing the HR director, “We put that all to bed.”
NHPR’s reporting shows this is not the only time Spofford used paid separation contracts, with stringent non-disclosure requirements, to keep destructive accusations about GRC under covers.
NHPR has actually not seen any settlement in between GRC and Staff Member B, however has actually seen numerous other separation contracts signed by Spofford that restrict the signatories from stating anything “bad or disparaging” that might harm the “track record or goodwill” of the business or anyone associated with it. The contracts state the staff members would be needed to return severance payments or other cash GRC paid them if they breached any terms of the agreement.
Not Long After Kaniuka and Stoesz resigned, Spofford fired Bourque, the HR director. In a text seen by NHPR, Spofford declared Bourque had actually mishandled Worker B’s case and composed, “You did not have my back.”
” So now,” Bourque stated, “Any person that understood anything is gone.”
” There’s patterns to behaviors like this,” Bourque included. Discussing her choice to speak to NHPR, the previous HR director stated, “Unwanted sexual advances is not about sex, it’s about power … Having that [power] over someone, it can damage their life.”
Spofford ‘responded to to nobody’
NHPR has actually spoken with more than a lots previous staff members who shared complex memories of their time at GRC. They explained an enthusiastic, mission-driven community that conserved lives. For some who had actually formerly gone through GRC’s programs themselves, it was the only sober community they understood. Some felt indebted to Spofford for their sobriety or their income (and often both).
Spofford likewise motivated worry. Several sources explained GRC under Spofford as a “cult”- like environment, in which Spofford required overall commitment, put his favorites in positions for which they were unqualified, and acted abusively towardsstaff A claim submitted by one previous staff member over a financial disagreement declares Spofford “mercilessly bugged and belittled” the staff member.
Brian Stoesz, the previous chief running officer, and Piers Kaniuka, the previous director of spiritual life, stated they frequently heard Spofford speak disparagingly of ladies. Lots of previous staff members who spoke to NHPR, consisting of Stoesz and Kaniuka, stated some of Spofford’s descriptors for ladies were “insane,” “nuts “and”borderline”
Spofford explained utilizing “pimp hands” in his treatment of staff members, according to 2 sources. Kaniuka specified the expression in this manner: “You abuse your staff, and then you’re great to them and then you abuse them.”
” I have actually never ever worked in an environment that was so maliciously violent– bullying, intimidation, hostile,” Stoesz stated.
According to lots of GRC staff, there didn’t appear to be any method to hold Spofford liable for his behavior in the office. When Spofford was CEO, he held all the power.
” I suggest, who does the owner report to?” Bourque, the previous HR director, stated. Bourque stated there was a board with just 3 members, and Spofford was one of them. And considering that GRC is a personal, for- earnings business, “[Spofford] truly responded to to nobody.”
Several sources explained GRC under Spofford as a “cult”- like environment, in which Spofford required overall commitment.
As far as federal government oversight, the state of New Hampshire is accountable for licensing and managing some types of substance use disorder treatment, such asresidential treatment The Department of Health and Human Solutions makes yearly gos to to each of the centers it certifies, and public paperwork recommends that the only infractions the state discovered at GRC residential centers were small, such as inaccurate documentation. The department, pointing out state law, stated any paperwork beyond yearly gos to might not be shared openly.
In a declaration to NHPR, the New Hampshire Chief law officer’s workplace stated it had actually gotten 9 grievances including Granite Recovery Centers in between 2013 and 2022. The grievances consisted of sanitation, bad conditions, COVID procedure infractions and what it called “staffing concerns.” The AG’s workplace stated it had actually not gotten any grievances of sexual attack versus Spofford.
For accusations of sexual misconduct to emerge, the ladies impacted would require to report them to authorities. However lots of sources informed NHPR they have not step forward yet, or would just do so anonymously, since of the environment of fear Spofford produced.
The most common issue amongst sources is that if they inform the fact about what they experienced at GRC, Spofford will strike back by destroying their track records, getting them fired from existing tasks or requiring them into legal fights they can’t manage.
Elizabeth, the previous customer who stated she got specific Snapchat messages from Spofford, stated she is nowsober She informed NHPR she hopes her choice to speak up can bring modification. “If I can do anything to make at least one treatment center much better, I more than happy to do that.”
New Hampshire Public Radio’s Jason Moon contributed reporting. This story was initially released by NHPR and was republished as part of the New England News Collaborative collaboration.