Health Authority withheld plea for "scrutiny" of Uplifting Journey
An Oregon Health Authority contracts manager emailed senior leaders in May about "circuitous" bunch of businesses tied to $60M Airzona Medicaid fraud case
A Lake Oswego house formerly operated as a residential treatment facility by Uplifting Journey LLC, a business at the center of a network of related entities a state official found “confusing, circuitous and worthy of scrutiny.”
An Oregon Health Authority contracts manager alerted other senior OHA officials in May about a constellation of businesses related to and including troubled Medicaid provider Uplifting Journey LLC, calling them “shell game-like entities” he found “confusing, circuitous and worthy of scrutiny,” according emails obtained exclusively by Oregon Roundup Foundation.
Uplifting Journey allegedly housed attempted murderers and is tied to $60M Arizona fraud ring
Oregon Roundup Foundation reported last summer OHA paid Uplifting Journey $2.3 million in drug and alcohol treatment Medicaid reimbursements for reported dates of service from April 15, 2024 to March 14, 2025. In January of this year, Washington prosecutors charged one man who allegedly lived in a Lake Oswego, Oregon house operated by Uplifting Journey with kidnapping, torturing and attempting to murder a Seattle area woman. Prosecutors allege another man living in the house participated in the crimes, but has not been apprehended.
Oregon Roundup Foundation reported last week Arizona pastor Theodore Mucuranyana, accused of laundering millions originating from a $60 million Arizona Medicaid fraud ring, co-signed for Uplifting Journey on a lease for a house to serve as a residential treatment facility in Gresham, Oregon in November 2024. Mucuranyana pastors the Hope of Life International Church, which caters to east African congregants in the Phoenix, Arizona area. The Arizona Attorney General alleges Mucuranyana funneled some of the fraudulent proceeds to an entity in Rwanda.
One of the owners of Uplifting Journey is listed as an owner of Arizona company Uplifting Care LLC, according to business records from the two states.
Arizona business records show Uplifting Care LLC’s statutory agent - the person designated by the company to receive service of process on behalf of the company - is Desire Rusingizwa, the same name as the indicted co-owner of alleged fraudulent Happy House Behavioral Health, which Arizona Attorney General Kristin Mayes (D) alleges is at the center of massive Arizona fraud by companies largely owned by Rwandan immigrants. The Glendale, Arizona address for the members of Uplifting Care matches an address Uplifting Journey provided to its Gresham landlord for co-signer and alleged money laundering Arizona pastor Theodore Mucuranyana.
“Confusing, circuitous and worthy of scrutiny”
In the email, Regan Dugger, Contracts Manager for OHA’s Behavioral Health Division, which oversees Medicaid payments to drug and alcohol treatment providers, identified from Secretary of State records four Oregon businesses related to Uplifting Journey warranting scrutiny: Life Restoration Missions LLC, Uplifting Bridge LLC, Heal Bridge Wellness Center LLC and Thrive Residential Facility LLC.
Oregon Roundup Foundation previously reported Life Restoration Missions, doing business as Restorative Journey, submitted Medicaid provider enrollment documents to OHA. The agency made exactly one Medicaid reimbursement payment to Restorative Journey, in the amount of $159 on January 22, 2025, the day after prosecutors allege sister company Uplifting Journey’s residents left a woman for dead alongside a Washington highway.
Secretary of State records name Julius Maximo is a co-owner of both Uplifting Journey and Restorative Journey. The Gresham landlord, neighbors of the Lake Oswego house and other sources have disclosed to Oregon Roundup Foundation Julius Maximo was the point of contact for the companies. Maximo was in the Portland area earlier this year, according to sources, but now lives in Boston.
Heal Bridge Wellness Center submitted Medicaid provider enrollment documents to OHA in December 2023, according to agency records produced to Oregon Roundup Foundation yesterday. Records requests for reimbursements to Heal Bridge Wellness Center and enrollment documents and reimbursements for the other business entities remain pending with OHA.
Excerpt of an email from Oregon Health Authority contract manager to other agency managers. “BHD” stands for Behavioral Health Division, which implements much of the state’s addiction recovery efforts.
Dugger sent his email to seven fellow leaders within OHA, including the person who appears to be his boss, Operations and Strategy Deputy Director Jon Collins, according to an OHA organizational chart.
OHA did not disclose concerns to legislator or Oregon Roundup Foundation
Dugger’s email to his colleagues came in response to a string of internal OHA emails triggered by State Rep. Ed Diehl (R-Scio) asking OHA whether Uplifting Journey had ever received state or federal funding. Diehl inquired about the business May 22, the day after The Post Millenial first reported Lake Oswego police responded to 17 calls concerning the Lake Oswego house operated by Uplifting Journey, and first identified the company in relation to the alleged attempted murderers it allegedly housed.
OHA’s legislative liaison responded to Diehl without alerting him to Dugger’s concerns regarding the five related businesses he found that appeared to be in the same line of business, involving the same people.
In a statement yesterday, Diehl told Oregon Roundup Foundation, “I am concerned that I was not notified of these findings at the time, despite having raised the initial inquiry.”
Diehl wrote the array of “shell-like” businesses identified by Oregon Roundup Foundation and OHA itself “strongly suggests the issue may extend beyond a single organization and points to systemic weaknesses in how behavioral health and Medicaid dollare are tracked and safeguarded.”
Oregon Roundup Foundation emailed an OHA spokesperson Amy Bacher at 1:24 pm Thursday, inquiring whether OHA applied any additional scrutiny to the Uplifting Journey constellation of business entities as suggested by Dugger, its contract manager, and whether OHA was aware of any enforcement actions underway by any government agency regarding Uplifting Journey and related businesses. Oregon Roundup Foundation also asked about what the “more shell game-like entities” OHA has uncovered over the past year, according to Dugger’s email.
The spokesperson responded about two hours later, writing that OHA would be unable to respond by the original close of business Thursday deadline. Oregon Roundup Foundation responded it would hold off on publishing until the weekend if OHA would respond Friday. As of publication of this article, OHA still has not responded to Oregon Roundup Foundation’s questions.
On June 6, Oregon Roundup Foundation requested from OHA “records related to Medicaid/OHP [Oregon Health Plan] reimbursement payments to Uplifting Journey LLC from November 28, 2023 to present.” OHA did not produce Dugger’s email or others in the string of internal emails about Rep. Diehl’s question about funding. Oregon Roundup Foundation obtained the emails from another source late last week.
In August, when Oregon Roundup Foundation inquired with Bacher for a comment on its report of Uplifting Journey pocketing $2.3 million in Medicaid funds while housing alleged attempted murderers whom federal authorities believe are members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, she responded with general information about Medicaid fraud and two cautionary notes specifically regarding Uplifting Journey:
“Everyone has a right to seek care. It’s enshrined in state law and in OHA’s values that people should not be discriminated against for seeking health care.”
“It’s also worth noting that the actions of an indivudal who may have received care through a facility does not reflect on the hospital or organization.”
An Oregon Department of Justice spokesperson told Oregon Roundup Foundation last week the agency could not comment on whether DOJ is actively investigating Uplifting Journey.
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek and Attorney General Dan Rayfield have resisted federal efforts to verify the citizenship status of Medicaid recipients in the state. Both strongly objected to federal Medicaid changes contained in Republicans’ “big beautiful” budget bill Republicans say would deter Medicaid fraud and require able bodied recipients to work.
Oregon Roundup Foundation created this article. ORF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation dedicated to covering Oregon political and government news. Media outlets are welcome to use this article for free with attribution of the author and Oregon Roundup Foundation.