Mental health agency under investigation

WATERVILLE – State and federal agencies have launched a series of investigations into the financial practices of a mental health agency that serves clients in four Maine counties.

Complaints by former employees triggered the allegations against Community Correctional Alternatives Inc., which range from falsification of documents to hiring convicted sex offenders to making house calls to unsuspecting clients, the Waterville Morning Sentinel reported Thursday.

William Tanner, the company president who founded Community Correctional Alternatives in 2002, denied most of the allegations and said he “never knowingly instructed anyone to break the law.”

Separate investigations are being conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Maine Attorney General’s Office and the Office of MaineCare Services. MaineCare, the state Medicaid program, provides most of the funding for the agency, which serves clients in Kennebec, Somerset, Franklin and Androscoggin counties.