A 30-day inpatient treatment center for those with a dual diagnosis of mental illness and substance addiction opened for a few months this summer north of Vallecito Reservoir before abruptly closing.
Denver investor Vincent Franco said he had high hopes for Wit’s End Ranch Retreat, but those dreams came crashing down a couple of weeks ago with the realization that the woman who came up with the idea and planned to run the rehab center was in over her head.
“She really wasn’t that competent,” Franco said of Dawn Solomon, former director of Wit’s End. “I thought she was someone who knew what she was doing. I found out the hard way that she was not fully capable of doing what she said she would.”
Solomon did not return a phone call this week seeking comment. Several subsequent phone calls went straight to voice mail, which was full.
The historic dude ranch is at the base of 12,000-foot-tall mountains near the Weminuche Wilderness. It sat vacant for about seven years before Franco paid $2.8 million for 63 acres, which included a main lodge, barn and 18 cabins ranging in size from one to four bedrooms. He spent an additional $500,000 bringing some of the 1950s buildings up to code, including installing fire alarms and sprinklers, he said. And more needs to be done.
“We had to install all of that stuff to get up to code before we could even get licensed by the regulatory agency here in Colorado,” Franco said.
The center opened in the spring but closed a couple of weeks ago after it became apparent Solomon hadn’t worked out the details for billing private insurance or Medicaid for services, he said.
Franco, a semi-retired lawyer, said he has almost $5 million invested in the project, including wages and insurance. He used properties he owns as collateral to help finance the ranch.
He said he met Solomon through her boyfriend, who was a bail bondsman in the Denver area and had bailed out some of his clients. She and her boyfriend came up with the idea for an inpatient rehab center, and they said they had a good lead on a piece of property in Southwest Colorado.
Franco became sold on the idea. He said Solomon had operated a couple of businesses in the Denver area, and he thought she would be capable of running a guest ranch. He has no other significant investments and no experience investing on this scale.
Solomon, who is in her early 40s, also had a unique story: She started smoking marijuana at age 13, and by age 26, she was facing prison time for selling and manufacturing methamphatamine, she told The Durango Herald in an interview earlier this year.
She tried various forms of addiction treatment before taking a liking to horses, which seemed to have a therapeutic effect. Equine-assisted therapy has gained legitimacy among therapists who serve people with developmental disabilities, physical challenges and mental health issues.
Solomon planned to offer equine-assisted therapy as a key component of the 30-day inpatient program. She said it would be a five-star experience, serving up to 50 clients at a time, offering them classes, chores, healthy meals, outdoor activities and, of course, companionship with horses. Clients would have access to a pool, tennis courts, rec room and thousands of acres of natural lands. They would hike, sing karaoke, attend movie nights and eat prepared meals.
She said it would cost $16,000 to $30,000 per month, depending on types of insurance, or lack thereof.
Franco said he hasn’t given up on the rehab center, but he must find someone who can run a place like that. He needs someone with a high licensing degree in addiction counseling to sign off on medical reports. He said he’s advertising locally and has hired a firm in New Mexico to help find the right person.
“I’m trying to find somebody who is qualified to run the place; see if we can salvage something out of the program,” he said.
He doesn’t suspect Solomon of committing fraud; rather, she was “just the wrong person for the job,” he said.
“I made a mistake,” Franco said. “I should have probably checked some of these things out a little more thoroughly instead of believing everything she said.”
He did accuse her of leaving with furniture, office equipment and horse saddles. He’s debating whether to file a police report to get the saddles back.
Franco admits he was naive, going in not knowing anything about mental health and drug addiction rehab. He thought it would be a good investment, and now he’s got his entire life savings invested in the center.
“I was misled, and I believed everybody and I didn’t question them, and I just kept paying bills, paying bills, paying bills, and I’m in a hole right now, and I’m trying to get out,” Franco said.
Now he’s worried about financial ruin.
“I saw a man the other day, an older man, a junkie selling things, and I thought, ‘Geez, I hope I don’t end up like that.’ That’s a fear I’ve got in my mind, that I might have to start begging for a living.”
But he remains hopeful he can find someone capable of running Wit’s End Ranch Retreat. There seems to be strong demand, he said.
“We’ve got several people knocking on the door wanting to be admitted and treated there,” he said. “There’s a lot of people saying that type of facility is needed and appreciated.”
shane@durangoherald.com
