Arrest sparks family’s questions

Lehighton woman was supposed to be in rehab at time of alleged incident

When Lehighton resident Amy Light learned her 29-year-old daughter was arrested in Altoona on March 28, she had questions -- foremost, why was her daughter in Altoona and why wasn't she in drug rehab?

Katelyn Light's monthlong journey from her parent's home in Lehighton, Carbon County, to Blair County Prison is confusing and unclear, but it began when she enrolled in Pyramid Healthcare's drug rehabilitation program on March 2.

Amy called the Mirror on Tuesday, emotional and struggling to understand why Katelyn Light was the subject of an article about a person who entered a First Avenue home, declared she was a cop and held up her empty hand as if she had a police badge.

"My daughter is supposed to be in rehab, and this just doesn't sound like her," Amy said Tuesday. "How do they know it was her? She told me her wallet was stolen; maybe this is just an misunderstanding?"

The last time Amy spoke with Katelyn was two or three days prior to Katelyn's arrest, and only a few days after Katelyn arrived in Altoona with a group of women allegedly exposed to COVID-19 while in Pyramid's Dallas, Pa., rehab facility.

Katelyn told her mother Pyramid sent her and others to Altoona as an attempt to isolate the potential COVID-19 infection after refusing to let Katelyn get tested.

While Katelyn was extremely unhappy with the Altoona facility -- a house located on the 800 block of Sixth Avenue that Katelyn referred to as the Gray House -- Amy wasn't aware the situation had escalated to Katelyn leaving the house or the Pyramid program.

Amy wasn't the only one trying to work out a timeline of events.

In Joshua Tree, Calif., Katelyn's boyfriend, Roy Jurgens, a former LA Times reporter who currently writes music columns for the LA Weekly, was also reeling from the news.

"We didn't hear from her for a couple days, and I was about to file a missing person's report," Roy said, explaining Katelyn's cousin later shared the Mirror article about Katelyn's arrest. "I was relieved when I read that, because -- I was worried she was dead."

Finding the facts

Before Roy agreed to speak about Katelyn, he made two things clear: Katelyn is addicted to narcotics and has been dishonest about her situation in the past.

Most of the information Roy and Amy obtained about what happened between when Katelyn arrived in Altoona and when she was arrested was provided by Katelyn.

Despite numerous attempts to contact Pyramid, neither Roy nor Amy were able to learn the exact details of Katelyn's stay at the Gray House. Both are listed as Katelyn's medical contacts, but Pyramid reportedly told them they could not share the details of her care because of the Health Information Privacy Act.

Upon arrival in Altoona, Katelyn told Roy the new location was horrible.

No facility staff were present to greet the women when they arrived, nor was any supervision provided during her stay. There was no food, no toilet paper, no bedding, no towels or washcloths -- just an empty house with a couple mattresses.

Inside the Gray House, Katelyn sent Roy photos showing rusty nails protruding through carpet tack-strips lining the walls, rolls of used carpet scattered throughout various sections of the house and an exposed wooden subflooring -- as if renovations were once underway, but had since been abandoned.

In the bathroom, the shower floor was nearly black with filth and sections of the drywall were deteriorating with exposed glue stains as if someone had ripped away the tile or plastic lining.

"I was worried about her," Roy said, explaining Katelyn gave him a tour of the house via Facetime. "That did not look like a place anyone should live, let alone a medical facility."

When Amy contacted Pyramid about the lack of food, she said she was told a person delivered three meals a day for Katelyn and the other women, but could not explain why there was no supervision for the inhabitants or daily rehab programming.

"Who does that?" Amy asked. "They just dropped those girls off there and left them."

Roy said he wired Katelyn $200 to $300 with the intent of helping all the women get food and basic necessities.

"I felt responsible for them," he explained. "Somebody needed to take care of them."

Throughout the week, neither Roy, nor Amy were successful in getting responses from Pyramid about the state of affairs at the Gray House.

On March 27, Katelyn told Roy she was expelled from the Pyramid program and the Gray House for complaining about the situation.

Pyramid later told Roy she was discharged, but did not give a reason why.

Amy said Pyramid told her Katelyn checked herself out of the program.

While a Pyramid spokesperson told the Mirror someone familiar with the company's drug rehab programming would reach out about its Altoona facilities, no comments were provided by late Friday afternoon.

The Blair County Prison agreed to let the Mirror interview Katelyn, but an interview time and date had not been set as of Friday afternoon.

Once bright future, now dimmed

After the shock of Katelyn's arrest passed, both Roy and Amy agreed it was entirely possible Katelyn committed the crimes she was accused of on March 28.

"There's little reasoning for an addict, unfortunately, just the high," Roy said. "I don't know what happened, but I want to know why it happened."

About 10 years ago, Katelyn was a star student at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, with a 4.0 grade-point average, Amy recalled.

But when Katelyn transferred to Moravian College, Bethlehem, her struggle with addiction became apparent.

"She stopped going to school and checked herself into a program," Amy said. "That was the first we learned about (her addiction)."

Katelyn's father, Eric, said Katelyn is an only child and lives at home with him and Amy, who are now retired.

"It's been challenging," he said with a heavy sigh. "You deal with all kinds of things in life, but watching your children struggle with addiction is probably one of the hardest ones."

When asked if Katelyn was an honest person, Eric paused for a moment.

"She used to be," he said.

In the last decade, Katelyn entered several rehab programs, but always regressed shortly after.

Amy said Katelyn was primarily interested in the Pyramid's 28-day detox program because she wouldn't be able to check herself out; thus, she would be forced to complete the program.

Katelyn also wanted access to a new anti-relapse medication similar to Vivitrol, which she would earn upon completion, Amy said.

Enabling addiction

About four years ago, Roy met Katelyn online. He said she was upfront about her drug addiction, and despite him being 26 years older than her and about 2,700 miles away, the two started dating about 18 months ago.

"We started talking years ago on Instagram, because she is a fantastic landscape photographer, and I love her work," Roy explained.

Although he never sought a relationship with Katelyn, it blossomed over time, he said.

"She's a bright, very intelligent person who is interested in animals, photography and politics," Roy said. "She's feisty, too."

The relationship didn't sit well with Katelyn's parents initially, in large part because Roy regularly sent Katelyn money.

"I didn't like him at first, because I asked him not to send her money, which she used to buy drugs," Eric said. "But we've gotten past that now."

Roy admitted he enabled Katelyn's drug use, albeit, unintentionally.

"Drug addicts can be manipulative, and when someone you love tells they are in trouble -- you just want to help," Roy said, explaining his regular money transfers to Katelyn.

Roy said it is likely Katelyn used the money he sent while she was at the Gray House to purchase drugs prior to being arrested.

"They didn't have any food or even the basic necessities," he said. "I did what any person would do."

'They failed Katelyn'

Katelyn has called Roy often from the prison, pleading with him to bail her out.

Eric wants her to stay in jail until her preliminary hearing.

"I'm torn, but I think jail is the safest place for her, right now," Roy said, a defeated tone in his voice.

Once Katelyn finished Pyramid's rehab program, she was supposed to fly to Joshua Tree, Calif., and stay with Roy for a while as she re-focused her life on art and music.

Now, Roy said he realizes it might not be that easy.

"As much as it pains me, I don't care about our relationship at this point," he said. "I just want her to get better and be healthy. I want her to enter a program that cares about her, and I want to see her succeed."

Eric and Amy are cautiously awaiting Katelyn's hearings and hoping the courts will return her to medical treatment, rather than sentence her to prison.

"She's my daughter, and I'd like to see her have a decent life," Eric said. "I think Pyramid should be reprimanded for their role in this. I think they failed Katelyn. But they'll deny everything. I just want the word to get out."

Mirror Staff Writer Ike Fredregill is at 814-946-7458.