A former director at a Las Vegas teen psychiatric treatment company says she was forced out after reporting serious problems. In a new lawsuit, Pamela Gomez, a licensed therapist, accuses Moriah Behavioral Health and its CEO of unsafe care and Medicaid fraud at facilities run under the Ignite Teen and Eden Treatment names. She says the company cared more about filling beds and making money than protecting teens, as reported by 8 News Now.
Gomez says she was hired in October 2023 and fired in January 2024. In that short span, she claims, she watched the company prioritize census and revenue over clinical judgment and bill Medicaid for services that were never delivered, according to 8 News Now. The complaint also says staff and vendors were routinely paid late, and that Baron warned her not to discharge a client and reminded her that "clients represent finance" when she pushed to pause new admissions. Gomez is suing for wrongful termination, tortious discharge and intentional infliction of emotional distress, her filing states.
State Watchdogs Turn Up The Heat
While Gomez was sounding alarms from the inside, state regulators were closing in from the outside. In late 2025, the Nevada Health Authority's Health Care Purchasing and Compliance Division issued notices of revocation to four Moriah-run psychiatric residential treatment facilities on Dec. 11, citing safety concerns, lack of cooperation and repeat noncompliance, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The division logged 36 official complaints since July 2024, the paper reports, and Nevada Medicaid followed with a separate 20-day notice of intent to terminate after officials could not obtain required records. Agency leaders told lawmakers that inspectors sometimes found as few as nine patients across the homes during surprise visits, a number that raised eyebrows given the facilities' footprint and public funding.
Court Fight And Chaotic Inspections
Moriah did not take the crackdown lying down. The company sued state agencies in early November and briefly won a temporary restraining order that limited regulators' access to its homes. That reprieve was short-lived. Clark County District Court Judge Jennifer Schwartz dissolved the order on Nov. 20, and inspectors went back in, according to 8 News Now.
County workers later served search warrants and removed four children from a Dutch Valley Drive home on Dec. 10. At another residence on Bahama Bay Court, state inspectors and facility staff clashed over entry, and Las Vegas Metro Police had to stand by to keep the peace while the warrants were carried out. The back-and-forth has triggered more court motions and a widening review of how the homes operate and how they tap into Medicaid and other public funds.
High Stakes For Kids And Taxpayers
Gomez's lawsuit seeks damages and lays out what she describes as a pattern of unsafe staffing levels, incomplete medical records and questionable billing. If those claims are substantiated, they could open the door to administrative penalties, criminal investigations and the loss of Medicaid payments.
The Nevada Attorney General's office, which is representing the state agencies in the broader fight with Moriah, has argued in court filings that inspections and potential license revocations are necessary to protect vulnerable children and to enforce state and federal law, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. With both the whistleblower case and the regulatory battle now playing out in court, parents, neighbors and state lawmakers are keeping a close eye on how officials balance tough oversight with continuity of care for the teens caught in the middle.
