The 13th Step
Reveal
The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
4.7 • 8.7K Ratings
🗓️ 21 June 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Across the country, women seeking addiction treatment are being harassed and assaulted by men in positions of power. The problem is so pervasive that it has a name among those in the industry: the 13th Step.
“I fell right into it, right into it. You know, it’s like, it’s just, you're so vulnerable,” says a victim named Andrea. “The 13-stepper is like, um, when you take advantage of a newcomer. Like, they, they joke like, ‘Don’t be a 13th-stepper.’”
This week on Reveal, we join Lauren Chooljian from New Hampshire Public Radio, who started her investigation by looking at that state’s largest addiction treatment network, founded by Eric Spofford. After exposing allegations that he was harassing patients, Chooljian, her sources, and staff at New Hampshire Public Radio became the targets of intimidation and vandalism. In recent weeks, Spofford was indicted on charges that he orchestrated those attacks.
Chooljian then follows another case, this time in California, where the owner of a group of treatment centers was sexually assaulting clients and carrying out massive insurance fraud. The owner, Chris Bathum, was brought to justice after two women teamed up to gather evidence and take it to law enforcement.
This is an update of an episode that first aired in February 2024.
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| 0:30.1 | From the Center for Investigative Reporting in PRX, this is reveal. |
| 0:35.0 | I'm Al Letton. |
| 0:37.0 | In March 2022, New Hampshire Public Radio broke a big story. |
| 0:43.0 | It was about the founder and then CEO of New Hampshire's largest addiction treatment network. |
| 0:48.0 | I'm about as well known as a drug addict. |
| 0:51.0 | What a weird claim to fame. I'm a very well-known drug addict in this state. |
| 0:55.4 | Eric Spofford built his business on his own story of substance use disorder and recovery. |
| 1:01.6 | New Hampshire was hit hard by the opioid epidemic, |
| 1:04.0 | and he'd become an influential figure in the state's response to the crisis. |
| 1:09.0 | Governor Chris Sununu considered Spofford one of his go-to guys and Spofford testified before Congress. |
| 1:16.9 | But then, reporter Lauren Chulgin had uncovered that Spofford was accused of multiple acts of sexual misconduct by employees and former clients. |
| 1:27.0 | All these allegations raise serious questions about Spofford's leadership, the company that made him wealthy, and New Hampshire's reliance on |
| 1:34.8 | Spofford to help address the addiction crisis. |
| 1:37.7 | For her story, Lauren spoke to victims at one of Spofford's facilities called Green Mountain Treatment Center, |
| 1:44.0 | including a woman named Elizabeth. |
| 1:47.0 | The day after she left Green Mountain, |
... |
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