Recovery Connection Centers of America

A new page has turned on an old saga, after the company behind a formerly proposed methadone clinic in downtown New Bedford has been criminally charged with fraud and its CEO arrested.

The CEO of a chain of addiction treatment centers across southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island — including several on the SouthCoast — has been arrested and his company charged after an investigation into an alleged $15 million health care fraud scheme.

The New Bedford Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to deny a special permit for the operation of a medical clinic downtown to treat addiction.

The New Bedford Zoning Board of Appeals is holding a meeting tonight in which it will decide whether or not to issue a special permit to allow a medical clinic to open at 268-270 Union Street in downtown New Bedford.

Michael Brier, seeking to locate a 'medical clinic' on Union Street in new Bedford, was sentenced to 27 months in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion.

The New Bedford Zoning Board of Appeals continued the hearing for a special permit for a methadone clinic downtown to November to allow for in-person input.