REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio - It has been almost one month since the Ohio Attorney General's office seized control of some sober-living houses in Reynoldsburg.
They said the owner of Summer Rays, Chuck Kirk, was abusing his authority.
Now some residents are being asked to leave.
For 18 months, James Wagy has been living in a house owned by Summer Rays.
He loaded up and left on Thursday.
"I am packing up my belongings and being evicted from my home," he said.
He is told it is because he was rude and disrespectful towards Lighthouse employees.
"Which, can't be farthest from the truth," he said.
Wagy admits to putting a "questionable" post on Facebook about a Lighthouse employee to help "lighten the mood" of residents.
"Just being aggressive with our staff," Alisha Rinehart, the chief clinical officer with Lighthouse Behavioral Health Solutions, said. "Being belligerent with our staff, verbally assaulting our staff, yelling, cursing."
She said when they started their services for Summer Rays residents about a month ago there was push back.
"When someone comes in who is not what you're used to and they look to give you structure and hold you accountable for things like your recovery and for being sober, people don't like that," she said.
Lighthouse started with 95 residents. Now, there's 75.
Rinehart says each resident is asked to agree to a list of rules. She calls them a "higher standard." And, because some don't agree, they leave.
The rules consist of, among other things, to agree to attend at least three sober support meetings per week, obtain and maintain some level of outpatient treatment and a curfew for the first three months while at the residence.
Some of the 20 residents left on their own, but about 15 of them, Rinehart says, have been asked to leave.
Those who relapse are offered treatment. Some accept it and some do not.
A couple residents, like Wagy, have been asked to leave because of that aggressive, rude behavior.
"Sober living is not treatment," Wagy said. "[Lighthouse] is trying to run this like a treatment facility and hold everybody that has multiple years of recovery to treatment rules."
Rinehart said what was in place by Summer Rays' owner, Chuck Kirk, though successful for some was not healthy for long-term recovery.
"That's not typical of what sober living looks like or a program looks like," she said. "So, we are coming in with what it should be."
Lighthouse Behavioral Health Solutions said it is helping residents obtain Medicaid, insurance, jobs, and food assistance.