A Free Oregon Ranch Offers Addiction Recovery. Fifteen Former Residents Call It Harm.

For two decades, a 108-acre Christian ranch in Yamhill County, Oregon, has taken in women leaving drug rehab, jail and abusive relationships at no charge. In a state short on residential treatment beds and domestic violence shelter space, a free bed is hard to refuse.

An investigation published Sept. 30 by InvestigateWest's Kaylee Tornay, republished this week by Jefferson Public Radio and OregonLive, reports that 15 former residents describe something different: manipulation, shame tactics and unwanted physical contact at a facility the state does not license and largely does not oversee.

What the Former Residents Describe

5Rock Ranch has been led since 2006 by Michael "Scott" Bradley and his wife, Christy. Neither is licensed in mental health, social work or drug counseling. Residents agree to ranch rules before arriving: no leaving without permission, and in most cases no outside jobs, cellphones or internet access.

Most of the 15 told InvestigateWest the ministry exploited their vulnerabilities rather than healed them. Two described unwanted touching and kissing by Scott Bradley. Six said he pressed them for explicit details about their sexual traumas, in private counseling sessions or at events. Several said they were denied permission to leave the ranch for therapy or medical appointments. At least four said they were expelled with less than a day's warning and dropped at a nearby town's homeless shelter.

Scott Bradley called the complaints "lies" that had already been investigated and debunked. "We have some disgruntled people, but we have way, way, way more people that their lives have been changed," he told InvestigateWest.

The Oversight Gap

Aside from its water system, overseen by Yamhill County, 5Rock is not regulated by Oregon public health or child welfare authorities, and the nonprofit holds no government contracts. InvestigateWest found no record of it receiving public money. This is the regulatory seam that state-level levels of care rules were written to close: an unlicensed facility offering what looks like residential addiction treatment, outside the licensing system that would normally trigger inspections and staff credential requirements.

There was a reckoning once. In 2012, after residents wrote to the board, the nonprofit hired a mediator whose 17-page report affirmed most of their accounts. He concluded Scott Bradley was not a "sexual predator" but that reports of sexual harassment and inappropriate touch were "significant" and would be grounds for firing at other ministries. He recommended an end to the "father-daughter" relationships Scott cultivated with female residents. The board drafted a letter saying it believed Scott would repeat the conduct, told residents it would shut the nonprofit down, then resigned one by one before completing the closure. Six new members joined the following year, and the ranch resumed growing.

InvestigateWest identified four people who went to 5Rock on probation to satisfy a drug treatment or anger management condition. The Oregon Department of Corrections said the ranch is not on its list of approved probation programs, but courts are not required to send people to vetted programs. For women with co-occurring trauma and substance use needs, dual diagnosis care delivered outside any licensing framework leaves little recourse when things go wrong.

Megan McCarty, who spent nine months at the ranch after being held captive on a cannabis grow, said learning that a second group went to the board in 2019 with no result was defeating. She and another former resident have asked the nonprofit to shut the ranch down. Neither succeeded.

"I just want this place to stop hurting people," McCarty said. "I'm not the only one."