At least six more people have died over the past year and a half at a West Baltimore apartment complex linked to a troubled addiction treatment program that state health officials ordered to shut down.

In December 2024, the Maryland Department of Health issued a cease-and-desist order to PHA Healthcare days after an investigation by The Banner and The New York Times. The report revealed that the state paid it millions of dollars a year for addiction services while it housed patients in drug-ridden and squalid conditions, where many relapsed and overdosed.

The joint investigation initially identified at least 13 deaths linked to the program across multiple properties between 2022 and 2024, including a mother and her 13-month-old son.

Experts say overdoses and deaths happen occasionally at treatment programs as patients with long-term drug addictions often struggle with serious health issues. However, the number of deaths associated with PHA Healthcare has alarmed lawmakers and treatment providers.

Del. Samuel Rosenberg, a Democrat who represents Baltimore City, has called for more state oversight of programs that treat and house people in recovery from addiction.

“People should not be put at risk,” Rosenberg said, adding, “This is not the first time we’ve learned of poor conditions, and conditions that may very well have resulted in the deaths of residents.”

In January 2025, PHA Healthcare lost a license to treat patients, and a month later, its operators started a new company called Ms. Ruby’s Place LLC. They continued to house people in some of the same dilapidated apartments while offering treatment online through other licensed providers.

In interviews, many clients said little changed. They added that they were expected to attend online group counseling sessions led by individuals who were based in foreign countries and did not appear according to publicly available records to be licensed to practice in Maryland. They were some of the same practices employed by PHA Healthcare.

And people continued to die.

Autopsy and police records recently obtained by The Banner reveal six previously unreported deaths between November 2024 and February 2026 at a 36-unit apartment complex operated as Ms. Ruby’s Place by Stephen Thomas, who ran PHA Healthcare, and his mother, Ruby Thomas.

State health department officials are aware of the close ties between PHA Healthcare and Ms. Ruby’s Place, agency spokesperson Amanda Hils said in statement. But the department has no authority to investigate Ms. Ruby’s Place, which is considered an uncertified recovery residence, and therefore falls into a gap in oversight that health officials are working to change, Hils said.

Reached by phone last week, Stephen Thomas told a reporter he has “no reason to believe that anything you write will be fair and balanced,” adding that previous reports failed to include the “huge numbers of people who have successes” at his program.

In a separate call with Ruby Thomas, she questioned how a reporter learned about the deaths in her program, asking a reporter to “confirm and verify” the information before she would answer questions. She did not respond to follow-up requests for comment.

A representative for the company listed as the owner of the apartment complex claimed he was unaware of PHA Healthcare or Ms. Ruby’s Place and did not respond to an emailed list of questions about the property and the related deaths.

Two of the deaths were from natural causes, but four were from drug overdoses, medical examiner records show. Three of those deaths happened months after PHA Healthcare lost its license.

Autopsies indicated all but one person had used illicit drugs recently before their deaths. Five of the six deaths happened inside the apartment complex, but one man died on the grass outside, according to a police report.

The dead included men in their 30s to 40s and one woman in her 60s. According to their obituaries and public records, one was a welder who loved the Ravens and another had moved to Maryland in hopes of starting a new life after struggling with addiction.

Police reports described finding drug paraphernalia, such as glass pipes and vials, near some of the bodies. People continued to use drugs frequently over the past year in the apartment complex, according to several clients who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal.

Two told The Banner they used drugs at Ms. Ruby’s Place as recently as January after relapsing. They blamed their return to drug use in part on a placement with roommates who smoked crack cocaine.

Both Stephen and Ruby Thomas also visited the apartment complex and were involved with its operations in recent months, the clients said.

Their treatment, however, was provided online through another Baltimore-based company called Holistic Change, they said, and their counselor lived in Africa, an approach similar to PHA Healthcare’s. A national accreditation agency lists the apartment complex as a treatment site for Holistic Change.

Stephen Thomas was also allowed to recommend the treatment providers who absorbed PHA Healthcare’s patients after the state pulled its license. In December 2024, his plan called for the transfer of patients to three other programs, including Holistic Change.

But James Scott III, owner of Holistic Change, said in an interview last April that no patients from PHA Healthcare had gone on to enroll at his company.

A Banner analysis of Medicaid reimbursement data shows that Holistic Change’s main source of revenue grew sharply after PHA Healthcare’s government payments for treatment services ceased. In the seven months after payments to PHA Healthcare ended in January 2025, the top treatment billed by Holistic Change for intensive outpatient care — PHA Healthcare’s primary business — accounted for $1.3 million, more than double the revenue generated by that type of treatment in the previous seven months.

Scott did not respond to requests last week for comment.

The data shows a similar change happened for Journey Health Center, another treatment company recommended by Stephen Thomas. Owner Robin Warren-Dorsey previously told The Banner that her program, for a time, took 30 of PHA Healthcare’s patients and also hired multiple employees from the company for a “seamless transition.” All of the patients and all but one of the employees later left the program, she said. Warren-Dorsey wrote in a text message last week that she has not taken any clients from Ms. Ruby’s Place.

For years, Maryland health officials have been trying to crack down, with limited success, on fraud, waste and abuse among substance use treatment programs. Regulators and providers alike have sounded the alarm on poor quality care and unscrupulous practices.

Among other things, ineffective regulations and a severe staffing shortage have strained the state’s ability to properly vet new programs, investigate complaints and deter bad actors, according to experts.

In particular, there has been a growing concern about outpatient treatment providers housing their patients in places called recovery residences, sober homes or supportive housing.

Stable housing can help people recover from drug addiction; however, free or low-cost housing can be considered an illegal incentive when it’s used to draw patients into treatment programs, health officials have said. Furthermore, many of such residences are not regulated or even tracked by state health authorities.

Under current regulations, health officials can inspect and investigate recovery residences, but only if they volunteer to become state-certified, according to Hils, the department spokeswoman.

Ms. Ruby’s Place is considered to be a non-certified recovery residence, which falls outside its power to regulate, Hils said.

An ongoing effort to change regulations would require all recovery residences to become certified, Hils said. Those efforts started two years ago and have faced delays, in part, because of pushback from providers on other provisions under consideration for change. New regulations could be finalized as early as this spring, she added.

Even without state regulations of uncertified recovery residences, people who file complaints about those facilities can be connected to legal help, alternative treatment and other resources, Hils said. Complaints can be filed online, through email and by phone to the Behavioral Health Administration, she said.

Banner data journalist Kasturi Pananjady and reporter Justin Fenton contributed to this story.