Niston Franco, CEO of Eugenia Center, stands outside the facility in Chehalis on Feb. 13, 2019.
Chehalis’s Eugenia Center’s license to act as a behavioral health agency has been placed on probation for at least one year according to the state Department of Health, due to findings of unprofessional conduct against its former administrator last year.
Eugenia Center has been licensed as a behavioral health agency in Chehalis since 1992. Lewis County contracts with the Eugenia Center for behavioral health and substance abuse services for participants in Lewis County Drug Court — a sentencing alternative for drug offenders.
“As of right now services aren’t being affected,” said Drug Court Manager Stephanie Miller.
Current Eugenia Center Administrator Fabiola Gonzalez did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The probation applies to two Eugenia Center locations in Chehalis and one in Mossyrock. Two other facilities — one in Lewis County and one in Grays Harbor County, were given conditional approval to open.
In April 2019, the state Department of Health suspended Niston Franco, who at the time was the CEO of the Eugenia center, from working as a chemical dependency professional for a period of two years after an investigation found that he was accused of sexually harassing an employee and for not reporting an inappropriate relationship between a counselor and a client.
Specifically, Franco was accused of asking a trainee to send him naked pictures and pressuring her to have sexual contact with him.
Franco entered into an agreement with DOH stipulating that he would have to wait two years before reapplying for a license to provide chemical dependency treatment, pay a $2,000 fine and pass an ethics course before his license is reinstated.
In October, 2019, the DOH sent Eugenia Center a notice that it intended to suspend the center’s license due to a possible violation of Washington Administrative Code 246-341-0335(1)(d)(i) and (v), which states that the department can deny a license application or renewal, suspend a license or place an agency on probation if the agency’s owner or administrator, Franco, had their certification denied, suspended or revoked, or committed an illegal act or unprofessional conduct.
On Jan. 16, 2020, Eugenia Center and the DOH signed an agreed order placing Eugenia Center on probation for “at least one year.”
The agreement also notes that Franco cannot be a part of Eugenia Center’s management or involved in the organization until his credential is reinstated.
