FBI raids methadone clinic in Camden
Agents carried dozens of boxes out of the building and into a white truck parked across from City Hall.
FBI agents on Wednesday morning raided a methadone clinic in Camden that has been a source of controversy in the city. Agents carried dozens of boxes out of the building and into a white truck parked across from City Hall.
The raid began around 7:30 and continued for more than four hours. Clients were initially asked to leave the Urban Treatment Center, but later were allowed to reenter. Camden police assisted in the raid, which was executed by the FBI's Philadelphia field office, and closed down streets in the city's downtown.
"The FBI visited that location to carry out court-authorized law enforcement activity," an FBI spokeswoman said in an email.
Officials at the FBI office in Philadelphia declined to say why the raid was launched and would not comment on what spokeswoman Carrie Adamowski described as an "ongoing matter."
An attorney for the owner of the clinic, Camden Recovery Holdings, declined to comment.
At noon, about 100 people were lined up outside, waiting to enter the building. They were left without answers Wednesday.
Lidya Gibson, 38, of Washington Township, arrived at the clinic for treatment around 7 a.m. Shortly after, she said, FBI agents entered the building and "told everyone to leave." Gibson said she saw agents carrying out computer monitors and boxes.
"We didn't know what was going on," said Gibson, who has been receiving treatment for the last two months for an opioid addiction.
The clinic, located at 424 Market St., has long been considered by city officials to be standing in the way of downtown revitalization. Now, the facility is slated to move from Market Street to Sixth Street and Atlantic Avenue in Bergen Square, a more residential neighborhood a mile away, to make way for the new Rutgers-Camden School of Business.
Residents there worry that the clinic, which treats about 1,000 people a day, will bring more traffic and crime into the neighborhood, with patients wandering the streets after receiving treatment. About 100 people packed a Planning Board meeting in November to protest the move, but the board approved the new location, saying not doing so could invite lawsuits from those claiming the city discriminated against addicts. Some officials also say a clinic is needed in Camden, where nearly 600 people overdosed in 2016.
The 17,000-square-foot facility will be located across the street from Joseph's House, a homeless shelter.
Camden Recovery Holdings entered into a $1.55 million sale agreement with the Rowan University/Rutgers-Camden Board of Governors last year. The building is expected to be cleared by December 2018.