‘Treated them like animals’: Body Brokering Pastor Kept Patients in Unsanitary Conditions

VIDEO – HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF? –

Sept. 13, 2023 – It’s a half hour before noon on Aug. 31 outside a Dunkin’ Donuts in Chandler near Riggs Road and Arizona Avenue. 53-year-old Robert Kayongo is met by special agents with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office just feet away from his van.

A probable cause statement says Kayongo wanted to meet there to close a deal with someone who actually was an undercover agent.

Investigators say Kayongo is a patient broker in a scheme targeting vulnerable people who need behavioral health treatment, offering food and housing at unlicensed sober living homes. In this scheme, as long as a patient is enrolled in the American Indian Health Program under Arizona’s Medicaid agency, their ID is used to fraudulently bill the state for therapy services rarely provided.

But, what would Kayongo admit to investigators about the alleged business he ran outside of church hours? Video from the Revival Power Ministries Facebook page shows Kayongo praying and preaching to his congregation.

The church is based in the Los Angeles area, but Kayongo can also be watched virtually on his own Facebook profile, speaking to followers.

Back in early August, without notice, Kayongo walked into Recovery Syndicate, a behavioral health outpatient facility in Chandler, using his title as a pastor.