RERUN: As to current the current Chief Executive Officer at The Arizona State Hospital, Donna Noriega.


Donna Noriega, LCSW  Complaint #2012-0047
"Found in violation of ARS 32-3251(12)(c)(i)  for committing fraud helping a crony she got hired there. The Chief Operating Officer ("COO") at the Agency where Professional worked, also a LCSW, completed the professional's LCSW application supervision forms. COO and the professional also worked together for about 10 years prior to working together at Agency. COO did not have any social work supervisory responsibility at Agency other than providing clinical supervision to the professional."
         (from the www.crazycorycorner.weebly.com website)

As I have stated in a number of prior articles to date, there are clear patterns of administrative indifference specific to arguable lack(s) of character that the highest ranking staff at The Arizona State Hospital have exhibited for an indefinite period of recent history, most certainly since my earliest experiences in the context, circa early 2011, and longer. These patterns, which are undeniably evident by the professional history(s) of persons such as former ASH supervisor Cory Nelson (who was promoted from that position in spite of the fact that in his 12 month tenure at ASH he directly caused deep reductions in patient and staff safety, and related issues that are currently under investigation by state and federal authorities, this following a very controversial professional history in his home state of South Dakota, a location he left in 2011 under a cloud of very troubling suspicion), Dr. Steven Dingle (who was ASH's chief medical officer when the graphic cover up the May, 2011, escape of Jesus Murietta and the associated murder of a young Phoenix woman named April Mott, only to be promoted as the highest level medical authority over AZ's entire behavioral health system), and on this list goes with respect for the majority of ADHS/BHS/ASH officials who I have interacted with over the last 3-4 years, including during the entirety of my thirteen months as an ASH patient (2011-12). I can attest to the fact that there are clear similarities in a context of widespread culpability/complicity  that extends well into the construct of the ADHS/BHS Office of Grievances and Appeals (which is assigned the requirement of tending to the affairs of any clientele who raise issues such as those which I have reporting since day one of my time at ASH, Kara Burke, most specifically, as her long running role as manager of that office), and even into the office of ADHS Director, Will Humble (who in the last 2-3 years has been 100% involved in the process of promoting senior ranking behavioral health care officials- Nelson most specifically- in such a manner that it appears to me as a matter of virtual reward for engaging in or otherwise condoning the most obviously unlawful misconduct that is today known to be occurring at ASH, on a day in and day out basis, at all levels of employ).

That said, the following article, which was originally published in April, 2012, further substantiates the endemic shortfalls in terms of ADHS's willingness to employ and utterly reward persons with very disturbing professional history(s) who I contend should not be placed in high-trust positions of authority. I will note at this time that  Donna Noriega is currently serving as ASH's chief executive officer, a position that she was promoted to following being censured for grossly abusing her powers while acting in her previous position as ASH's chief operating officer, in spite of the evidence included below. In recent days, there has been an escalation of interest in my April 2012 reporting of the matter, thus compelling me to offer this update. Point being: What the hell is going on when it comes to these people, who have been granted the privilege and associated responsibility to overseeing the affairs of Arizona's most seriously mentally ill and disabled citizens?

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

News Flash: Donna Noriega- Busted! March 09, 2012: The Current Chief Operating Officer at the Arizona State Hospital Found In Violation of Arizona Revised Statute 32-3251(12(c)(i) By The State Board of Behavioral Health Examiners. Censured. See Case #2012-0047.

       Donna Noriega, LCSW 10959. In short, this woman is Arizona State Hospital Chief Executive Officer Cory Nelson's deputy, and she's been censured by an state administrative credentialing committee for lying while on the clock. I've not a lot of time for Donna Noriega's current legal issues tonight, but I am telling you folks, the administrative staff at the Arizona State Hospital are messing around with federal and state law, and the deceitfulness that I encountered ran true at all levels of staff representation. 

At a March 09, 2012, meeting of the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners Social Work Credentialing Committee, the Chief Operating Officer at the Arizona State Hospital, Donna Noriega, was found to have engaged in unprofessional conduct in direct conflict with the requirements of her right to be a social worker, as follows:

 ARS 32-3251 (definitions)

      (12) Unprofessional Conduct 

      (c)   Any oral or written misrepresentation of a fact by an applicant orlicensee

       (i)   to secure or attempt to secure the issuance or renewal of of a license.   

         The Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners is looking at some of my work already, because the social workers that I relied upon at ASH, including that department's supervisors, engaged all sorts of administrative misconduct that I experienced or otherwise identified as a patient there, including blatant lying and misrepresentation of facts central to my status and needs as a mentally ill person in the state of Arizona. And while it may not be obvious how or why those particular people would be in a position to detriment the lives and well being of mentally ill persons, the fact is, that branch of state certified practitioners are responsible for the social welfare of mentally ill persons who rely 100% on social workers in the field to ensure that their day to day needs are in order, as well as high ranking representatives such as Donna Noriega to maintain the integrity of the field. Food for thought, indeed. 

       Also, I hope some of you got a look at ASH Chief Executive Officer Cory Nelson'spersonal web page (www.crazycorycorner.weebly.com) before today, because that fast, I believe he may have removed it from the web.

UPDATE MARCH 2014: Isn't it disturbing enough to know that a man like Roger Allan Forney somehow found his way onto The Arizona State Hospital's security staff in 2011, despite having been convicted of sexual child abuse and exploitation in 2010, without having to concern ourselves with the arguable ineptitude of those persons at ASH with the most crucially entrusted duties in terms of the overall ASH operation?  Sadly, as the facts apply, the specific details underlying the 2012 investigation and consequent censure of Donna Noriega arose with specific respect for her role in the hiring practices at ASH, and her having patently lied about the qualifications (or lack thereof, more succinctly) of a person that Noriega was intending to hire as an ASH social worker. Indeed, given this fact, there is very real possibility that during her tenure as ASH's chief operating officer, Donna Noriega was directly involved with the 2010 hiring of  Forney, who has since been convicted yet again- in early 2014, following a 2013 arrest- for sexual child abuse- and is now serving an extended prison sentence in Arizona's corrections system. And it need be said, that while I have never sought to identify the entire staff community at ASH as unqualified across the board (for there are indeed a number of very conscientious and more than reasonably qualified staff at ASH- but they are the minority), the bare fact remains that there is an open door to persons who are- in fact- not only unqualified an/or clinically incompetent for any of the various positions at ASH, but further, are representative of outright deceit as a consequence of disturbingly low character and associated lack of professional ethos. As per my experiences and other like data now emerging specific to this issue, these sorts of persons invariably occupy the highest level positions of authority at ASH, including in terms of seniority with each specific area of employment positions there, be it the nursing staff, staff psychiatrists, social worker staff, and so on. This, in turn, directly contributes to the fact that any staff at ASH of reasonable character is effectively left out of the promotion process(s) that may arise during their tenure there, and worse yet, will be systematically retaliated against by higher ranking staff should they openly voice concern about the issues at ASH, in many of the same ways that I was retaliated against during my 13 months of hospitalization there, in Arizona's sole long term public mental health facility.

It is that bad. Grossly inept staff, including those who occupy executive level administrative positions, all of whom who have been furthering the presence of substandard care practices- and they are still getting away with it.

paoloreed@gmail.com