{"id":42784,"date":"2025-11-24T01:09:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T01:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/42784\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T01:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T01:09:07","slug":"delco-opioid-nonprofit-head-accused-of-coercing-sexual-favors-from-clients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/42784\/","title":{"rendered":"Delco opioid nonprofit head accused of coercing sexual favors from clients"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From Delco to Chesco and Montco to Bucks, what about life in Philly\u2019s suburbs do you want WHYY News to cover? <a href=\"#Section1\">Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>The head of a Delaware County advocacy group has been charged with using opioid settlement funds to coerce sexual favors from women experiencing addiction.\n<\/p>\n<p>Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer charged Lawrence Arata, executive director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opioidcrisisactionnetwork.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Opioid Crisis Action Network<\/a>, with human trafficking, patronizing prostitutes, obstruction of justice and witness intimidation.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur investigation concluded that Larry Arata cynically and cruelly misused those funds as leverage to satisfy his sexual desires,\u201d Stollsteimer said in a statement.\n  <\/p>\n<p>Arata turned himself in on Wednesday to the district attorney\u2019s Criminal Investigation Division and later posted bail. No attorney was listed for Arata in online court records and he did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\n<\/p>\n<p>The Opioid Crisis Action Network did not respond to a request for comment.\n<\/p>\n<p>Lawrence Arata, 65, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/life\/opioid-crisis-action-network-treatment-reform-pennsylvania-20210817.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">founded the Upper Darby-based organization<\/a> in 2018 with his wife, Heather Arata, shortly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opioidcrisisactionnetwork.com\/in-memory\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">after their son died from a heroin overdose<\/a>. The Opioid Crisis Action Network pays for treatment and housing for people with substance use disorder.\n<\/p>\n<p>The organization was a recipient of opioid settlement money from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.delcopa.gov\/opioid-settlement#title_onthispage_1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Delaware County<\/a> as well as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paopioidtrust.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust<\/a>, Stollsteimer said. The Criminal Investigation Division, in collaboration with the Upper Darby Police Department, initiated a joint investigation into Arata after receiving complaints.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe allegations revolve around Arata receiving sexual favors from clients who are in recovery for drug addictions in exchange for program benefits such as meal credits, gift cards, bus passes, money, rental assistance, and the like,\u201d the affidavit of probable cause reads.\n        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Delco to Chesco and Montco to Bucks, what about life in Philly\u2019s suburbs do you want WHYY&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[212,2314,25587,25588,147,149,148,150],"class_list":{"0":"post-42784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upper-darby","8":"tag-delaware-county","9":"tag-delco","10":"tag-jack-stollsteimer","11":"tag-opioid-crisis","12":"tag-upper-darby","13":"tag-upper-darby-headlines","14":"tag-upper-darby-news","15":"tag-upper-darby-township"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}