'We are at war:' Landmark CEO's email blasts 'enemies'

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – In an attempt to rally his remaining employees, the CEO of Landmark Recovery sent a company-wide email claiming that falsehoods from police, the government and former employees led the closure of three drug recovery facilities and the furlough of 300 jobs.

WANE 15 obtained Matt Boyle’s email Thursday evening, where the first paragraph reads:

“We are at war. This great company we have built is under attack, and the ship is taking on water. As you have heard, we had to take the step to furlough over 300 staff between Indiana and Home Office due to the malicious and illegal actions against us that have resulted in a revocation of our ability to operate, and the illegal premature termination of our contracts by several major payers.”

The entire email can be found below in multiple screenshots obtained by WANE 15.

WANE 15 reached out to Boyle via phone and email but he has yet to respond.

The Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services last week revoked the licenses for Praxis Landmark Recovery in Mishawaka and its sister facilities in Bluffton and Carmel.

In his email, Boyle takes aim at the state agency and claims its officials wielded a rarely used statute to enact its emergency powers to revoke the licenses.

Boyle claims in the email the state said failure to report in a timely manner three deaths in at the centers was the cause of the revocation, but that two of the deaths were reported correctly and that there was a delay in reporting the third due to an employee walking off the job.

Boyle also targets the sheriff of St. Joseph County as one of the company’s “enemies” in the email. He claims the sheriff – who is William Redman but is not named in the email – has “thrown wild allegations” against the company and “continues to lie to the media, politicians and the State Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services.”

He claims Redman has accused the company of not cooperating in the investigation into deaths at the one of the centers, but that “nothing could be further from the truth.”

Also, Boyle describes some ex-employees as a “cadre of people” who worked at the company’s home office prior to a cultural shift. He accused these ex-employees of “hiding information, reports and not doing their job.”

“They resent being caught, and so have taken their case to the media,” he wrote in the email. Some among us have continued contact, and may have disclosed current events to them. Let me be clear. They are not your friends. They want to destroy you and the company you work for.”

In addition to the email, a recent former employee reached out to WANE 15 to explain and share experiences. The employee said multiple facilities experienced lack of supplies being available resulting in nurses bringing in their own supplies. The former employee also said that debt collectors would pay visits to facilities due to bills not being paid.

Other details the former employee told WANE 15 was the staffing rations were poor. For example, only one nurse would be on staff at night at many facilities.

This email is also following after a lawsuit was filed against Praxis by Landmark Recovery in Mishawaka earlier in the week. WANE 15 was told Thursday that another lawsuit will be filed for the Bluffton facility sometime next week.

In response to the lawsuit, Landmark Recovery sent WANE 15 this statement Friday: