A man who was arrested for invading a home on Pine Street in Peterborough in July and then stealing three bicycles in the neighborhood in the space of 20 minutes, told police that staff from Avenues Recovery Center in Dublin had dropped him off in the Shaw’s parking lot.

“Apparently, staff from this rehabilitation center are just dropping patients off in the Shaw’s parking lot when they are unable to complete their program,” Peterborough Police Chief Scott Guinard said in an interview.

According to Guinard, the department has been aware of the practice “for a while now.” A representative for Shaw’s had no comment.

“Last year, a young woman was just left with all of her belongings in a trash bag in the Shaw’s parking lot, and people kept calling us and saying she was just sitting there, in bad weather,” Guinard said. “We don’t know why she left the facility in Dublin, but she was brought to Shaw’s. We asked her how she got to Avenues, and she said the staff from Avenues had picked her up in Dover, but they did not take her back to Dover.”

Guinard said the woman was subsequently arrested on an outstanding warrant from the Seacoast, and that there have been other occasions with people sitting on the curb for hours in the Shaw’s parking lot. In another incident, an employee of Shaw’s reported that his bike had been stolen by a person who had been dropped off in the parking lot, and had apparently come from the recovery center. The bike was later located in the parking lot at Temple Mountain State Reservation.

Peterborough Select Board member Bill Kennedy said the town has been concerned about the practice even before former clients of the rehab center were linked to recent crimes.

“It sounds like when these people fail the test at the rehab center, they just get transported out of Dublin and dumped in the first public space the staff can find,” Kennedy said.

Peterborough Town Administrator Nicole MacStay has attempted to speak with a representative of Avenues at local, state and national corporate levels about the Dublin center’s practice of dropping clients off in the parking lot. As of Nov. 4, MacStay stated she had received no response from Avenues. On Oct. 21, a staff member reached by phone at Avenues Recovery in Dublin said the center had no comment on the issue. The Ledger-Transcript’s calls to Avenues Recovery corporate office in Concord were not returned.

“Why can’t Avenues at least notify Peterborough and let us know these people are coming, so we can connect them with services?” Kennedy said. “If they could at least let the police know, the police could follow up. We have social services. We could try to connect these people with help.”

“The sad thing is, funding for these programs is constantly being cut, insurance will not cover the stay, and there are not enough places for people to go,” Kennedy added.

Guinard said the Police Department has also tried to contact Avenues, which is a national, for-profit chain of recovery centers operating in seven states.

“We have reached out to Avenues to discuss this with them, and they will not call us back,” Guinard said. “What they are doing might not be illegal, but they are putting people in a position where they may be stuck there for hours, they have no access to public transportation or resources. We are not sure how many times this has occurred. We only know about the people who end up having contact with us.”

A dispatcher for the Keene Police Department said on Oct. 28 that the department has not received any reports of people from Avenues Recovery or any other rehabilitation centers being dropped off in parking lots or other locations in Keene.

At the Oct. 7 meeting of the Dublin Select Board, Select Board member Sue Peters noted that the issue had been brought to the board’s attention.

“Obviously, we’re very concerned about it,” Peters said.

Select Board Chair Chris Raymond said that the town had no authority in the matter.

“I don’t know as there’s much we could do. We’re all aware of it,” Raymond said.

Mary Drew, founder and director of Reality Check, a nonprofit organization in Jaffrey that supports addiction recovery and education, said she had never heard of the practice of leaving rehabilitation patients in a public place before she learned about it from Kennedy.

“This is a new one on me,” she said. “I have been working in this arena for 15 years, and I have never heard of a facility just dropping patients off like that.”

Jake Leon, director of communications for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, stated that according to state law, treatment centers are required to have a continuing care plan in place for every person leaving recovery, which can vary according to individual needs.

“DHHS is committed to supporting people experiencing substance misuse, regardless of where they are in their treatment and recovery journey, including safe discharges and transitions between different service settings and supports,” Leon said. “Licensed residential substance use disorder treatment centers are required to follow state statutes and rules, including on the discharge process.”

Leon referenced state law He-P 826 15:d, which states that “In all cases of client discharge or transfer, the counselor shall complete a narrative discharge summary, which includes…a continuing care plan.”

Leon also referred to NH RSA 151, which states that patients “shall be transferred or discharged after appropriate discharge planning only for medical reasons, for the patient’s welfare or that of other patients, if the facility ceases to operate, or for nonpayment for the patient’s stay, except as prohibited by Title XVIII or XIX of the Social Security Act. No patient shall be involuntarily discharged from a facility because the patient becomes eligible for Medicaid as a source of payment.”

Leon noted that anyone with a complaint about a licensed rehabilitation or recovery facility should contact the DHHS Health Facilities Licensing Unit at hfa-licensing@dhhs.nh.gov.

New Hampshire’s Doorway system operates in nine regions to connect people seeking help with substance use disorder to screening, treatment, prevention and peer support services in their home communities. Anyone who needs SUD services, or knows someone who does, is encouraged to contact the Doorways by calling 2-1-1 or visiting thedoorway.nh.gov.

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript reporter David Allen contributed to this story.