Connellsville man files suit against Cove Forge Behavioral Health Center in Williamsburg

Spada refused admission for substance use treatment

A Connellsville man has filed a federal civil rights complaint in the District Court at Johnstown seeking admission to the Cove Forge Behavioral Health Center in Williamsburg.

Zachary Thomas Spada, 35, contended in his lawsuit that he was accepted earlier this month for residential substance-use-disorder treatment at Cove Forge, which is part of the Pennsylvania-based White Deer Run Treatment Network.

Spada stated in his lawsuit that he sought residential treatment after being diagnosed with several conditions that have identified him as a disabled individual under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the federal Rehabilitation Act.

He sought admission to Cove Forge and stated that he was contacted by a representative of the facility to set up a pickup time.

Spada stated in his petition he "reasonably understood that Cove Forge had approved or accepted him for admission."

However, his quest for treatment was set back when he was contacted a second time by someone he identified as a Cove Forge employee telling him he would not be admitted to the facility because of criminal offenses he had committed in 2018.

State court records state that Spada in 2019 was sentenced to prison on a charge of kidnapping in Erie County.

His lawsuit summed up his situation by concluding, "the representative did not say that admission remained subject to a criminal-record screen or another unresolved eligibility condition."

He was finally told that he could not be admitted to Cove Forge, but would have to go to a more secure facility.

Cove Forge did not identify or arrange for an alternate treatment location, his petition stated.

He became upset when he realized "his old convictions were being used as a proxy for present dangerousness ... without the individualized assessment required by federal disability law."

Spada has charged that his rejection for admission violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which he maintains prohibits criteria for eligibility which screen out individuals with disabilities or reasonable modifications that fundamentally alter the service to be provided.

He claims in his case that a section of the Rehabilitation Act has also been violated.

Spada argues in his petition he was not given an individualized evaluation as is required under federal law.

He contended his denial of treatment also violated state law.

Spada is asking the federal court to rule that Cove Forge cannot deny him equal access to treatment and is seeking an individualized reassessment of his situation.

He is asking for nominal financial damages including the cost of counsel, if a lawyer enters the case.

At present, Spada is acting as his own lawyer.

Cove Forge personnel able to discuss Spada's complaint were not available.

In 2022, the Mirror had an article indicating that Spada, while an inmate at the State Correctional Institution in Houtzdale, was not permitted to take a correspondence course to become a paralegal.