Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - PRESLEY GERBER DEAD: "REHAB" FOUNDER WEIRD PONCHO, ARRESTS REVEALED

Episode Date: October 1, 2026

Question are being raised about the owner of the Santa Monica sober living facility in which Presley Gerber died. Dr. Reza Nabavi's past personal drug history and his Resolutions Living facility are under scrutiny.   Presley died after checking himself in. Witnesses say he did not appear sober at the time.    Gerber died of a suspected overdose.   Joining Nancy Grace today:  Dr. Drew Pinsky - Board-Certified Physician and Addiction Medicine Specialist.   Host, 'Ask Dr. Drew' on Youtube.  Website: DrDrew.com,    Author:"When Painkillers Become Dangerous: What Everyone Needs to Know About OxyContin and other Prescription Drugs" "The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism is Seducing America"  "Cracked: Life on the Edge in a Rehab Clinic" Franz Borghardt  -  Criminal Defense Attorney, Founder of Borghardt Law Firm, Former Prosecutor, website: www.borghardtlawfirm.com, Insta/FB: BorghardtLawFirm Dr. Bethany Marshall  -  Psychoanalyst, featured on the hit show: "Paris in Love" on Peacock and "The Valley, Persian Style" on Bravo.   Host  "On The Couch with Dr. Bethany Marshall," Website: drbethanymarshall.com, Instagram FB & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, Twitter:@DrBethanyLive Rob Shuter  -  Former publicist for Naomi Campbell, Sean Combs, Author of New Book: "Queen Elizabeth III: The New American House of Windsor,"   robshuter.substack.comIG: @naughtygossip   Dr. Kendall Crowns  -  Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), Host of Podcast "Mayhem in the Morgue”, Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University)  Sierra Fox, -  Entertainment Host & Media Personality - Former TV Anchor at Fox 5 DC,  website: www.thesierrafox.com, @thesierrafox (Insta, FB, TikTok, X)  Dave Mack  - Investigative Reporter, 'Crime Stories' See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Tonight, supermodel Cindy Crawford's son, her only son, Presley Gerber, dead. The rehab founder flouncing around L.A. in a bizarre poncho, as his arrests are revealed. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for Bill. with us.

The less activity that was in my life, the more medication I found having to be integrated into my life. You know, his intake was hours before his death. What was ingested prior to his arrival? My last drink, though, was on my birthday, so I haven't had alcohol in a couple of months. But it's extremely sad because you have a young man who was very vocal about his struggles, and now here we are as a result. This is Presley Walker Gerber.

He was born on July 2nd, and he was born at home in my bed. We're just excited. This is Presley's first premiere, right? He's being shy. The police now are investigating the rehab facility where Cindy Crawford's son died. He checked in just a few days ago, clearly needing help, and now he overdosed at the facility. We have heard the 911 calls where he went into cardiac arrest and then ultimately died on the scene.

From engine one, we're clearing our call. You can dispatch us to instead of engine seven. Engine seven, BLS2, cardiac arrest. Engine seven, BLS2. BLS1, overdose. BLS1. Engine one, just regard to the stage.

Engine one, copy. Engine 1, BLS1 continuing and upgraded. This young man is dead. Dead after just entering a rehab. Oh, excuse me. It's not a rehab. It's a sober living environment, including services like a private chef and Egyptian cotton sheets.

Technical legal terms, screw that. He needed to get well. And how are parents supposed to know where they're sending their child, their son, when it says sober living environment? Why doesn't it just say Ritz Carlton? That's sound from our friends at E.T. and naughty but nice Rob on TikTok. That would be Rob Shooter joining us tonight. Publicist guru to the stars like Naomi Campbell, Sean Combs,

knows Cindy Crawford and her family. Now, brand new book by Shooter, Queen Elizabeth 3, the New American House of Windsor. I don't know what that means. But, Shooter, I know this. These sober living environments, you think you're sending your son to a place he's going to get rehab. Then for $15,000 a month, he dies in just hours.

I mean, come on. Shooter. He's been on Ibegene, the crazy psychedelic treatment down in Mexico. It looked to me like they were just, you know, burning sage around him yeah that he has been on ketamine by another doctor

then he goes into resolutions you know what let me just cut the chase did you see the founder of resolutions wandering around LA and that bizarre poncha oh my goodness what does he have some takeout

what I'm going to hand my son over to him Cindy Crawford probably had no oh he's been swimming in all of his spear time he needs to be checking the policies at his sober living environment shooter. Yeah, it's heartbreaking, Nancy. In defense of the parents here, though, they've tried everything. Everybody that I've spoke to that New Cindy knows Randy too

has said they were literally at their wits end. He has tried very, very traditional rehamp. He has tried very, very avant-garde modern rehams. And clearly none of them worked. They would have done anything, everything to save their son, including stuff that looks really weird, looks really, really wacky. But as well as the wacky stuff, they did try the traditional routes. He has been in and out of rehab for the last 10 years of his life, and nothing they did, worked.

You know, Shader, I'm very curious as to why you said in defense of Cindy Crawford, because no one is attacking Cindy Crawford or her husband. From my understanding, they had tried and tried and tried. And if it were me and I was trying to get my child sober and well, and I saw sober living environment, I would assume they offered more than Egyptian cotton sheets. You know, like a doctor, like an addiction specialist, like Drew Penske, somebody like him, a medical doctor to help him get well?

I find that very misleading. Yeah, it's a fair assumption to make. Cindy Crawford and Randy have been around really one of the darkest businesses I've ever worked in, which is the modeling business. And that's why some people have been pointing a finger at the parents. It's bubbling up, Nancy. Online it's already started. And now we're starting to see these questions pop up.

What happened within that house? And so people are pointing fingers slowly at the family. I know from my sources that this family tried everything in their power, everything in their power to try and save this really troubled. Why is it always like this, Rob? Why are the victims blamed? They have sent their son to run. I mean, come on, the bill is $15 grand a month.

You'd think a doctor would be rolled into that, but there wasn't. I mean, Rob, in your business, I know you're busy out running around to get the freshest a Claire for Sean Diddy Combs at, oh, excuse me, cheesecake at 3am. But in my world, you pat the attic down. You roll out their pockets, in some cases, strip search. Because an addiction, it truly is like a demon inside of you. It's literally like a crazy screaming monkey on your back.

You can't get rid of it. And I think the reason we blame people is we want an answer. This is a 27-year-old young man who seemed to have every advantage in the world who is dead. And so people are looking for answers and they're starting to really poke and dig deep here. And so that's why fingers are starting to point at the parents. Let me just clarify too. My sources are telling me that the parents did not drop him off at this facility. It was a friend of his.

So a friend of his knew that he needed help and drove him there. In fact, Cindy Crawford and Randy Gerber did not even know he had checked into this very alternative, this very different type of facility. What are you meant by that? They had been trying to get him into. Don't speak in code, shooter. Very, excuse me, very alternative. What does that mean? It's not legit.

Is that what that means? Yes. Yes, that's what I'm saying. Cut to the chase Nancy. That's what I'm saying. This appears to be a very unqualified place, a luxury spa. Let's take a look at it. Wow. $7 million. To my understanding, out to Sierra Fox joining us, media expert, former anchor Fox 5 DC, Sierra, thank you for being with us tonight. Did you see that place?

When I looked inside, it looks like a multi-million dollar, mansion is three houses that all are resolution living. What is it? Well, Nancy, I think there's really just two separate issues here. First, police are investigating Presley's death and trying to determine what substances may have been involved in where they came from. But separately, California health regulators are looking into weather services were being provided at the residence that would have required a state license. And there's an important distinction here. Resolutions living has been widely describe as a rehab, but state officials have said it appears to operate as a sober living or recovery resident, which does not require the same license as a residential substance abuse

treatment facility. So I think the obvious question a lot of people have is how does someone die from a suspected overdose while staying somewhere that's supposed to support people in recovery? But right now, we don't have enough information to say what happened inside that home or whether anyone there did anything wrong, so that's what investigators are still trying to figure out. This record is on. Miley is having a moment, new name, new album, and two exclusive shows. So IHart Radio is sending you to experience it all. Life at the Hollywood Polites, Hotel, Tickets, and $1,000 cash.

Listen to IHart new music for 10 minutes a day on the IHart Radio app, and click enter. Every day you listen is another chance to win. Stream Miley's new album, Bass Persuades, today. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Joining us now is a very special guest, a longtime colleague and a long-time friend. Dr. Drew Pinsky is joining us. He is a board-certified physician and addiction medicine specialist. He's a star of Ask Dr. Drew on YouTube, X.

Rumble, Facebook, it goes on and on, and author of when painkillers become dangerous, author of The Mirror Effect, Author of Cracked, Life on the Edge in a Rehab Clinic. Dr. Drew, it's so great to have you with us tonight. You know, your knowledge in this area is vastly beyond my comprehension as a trial lawyer. So let me just start with an open-ended question. That's what you do when you have an expert that knows more than you do. Dr. Drew, I'm just stunned that this young man could die in a rehab that's supposed to be taking care of him and getting him well of all places. It's like maybe in his car, maybe at home, maybe in some alleyway, maybe at a party where there's this big bowl full of drugs and pills.

but in the rehab? Yeah, people are stunned when that happens. It does happen because there are addicts in rehab, and addicts will frequently find uncanny ways to smuggle in substances. In fact, sometimes I've seen situations where the very family members that bring them in smuggle the drugs in that they then overdose on. The problem is that the monitoring appears not to have been adequate

to have responded to the overdose. That's the part that's really a problem here. And that is a function of a longstanding issue in California in particular, where residential and even more so sober living environments are not regulated at all. And I live through the genesis of all this back in the 1980s. There was a huge conflict between the recovering community and the psychiatric community. And a lobby group got laws passed in California that would not not allow doctors in or around residential, well, and particularly against sober living environments. So they became just these sort of warehouses where there was a house mother. And sometimes nearby there could be professional services, but it is not a medically managed

environment. And the reality is back when I ran a drug treatment center for 20 years, patients like him would be in a psychiatric hospital. And that just doesn't happen anymore. And a big share of that is not just the laws here in California, but the insurance companies won't allow it. I don't know what you're even saying. Okay, I'm a criminal trial lawyer, a prosecutor.

Everything has to be probative or I don't care about it. Number one, what are you saying about insurance companies and what are you saying about doctors can't be at a, quote, sober living environment? And what is a sober living environment versus rehab? because this young man had so much in his system. He needed to dry out and try to get well instead of going to basically the Ritz-Carlton equivalent of sober living. What is sober living environment? So sober living is just a house where addicts live and support one another's recovery,

usually with one individual who's also a recovering person, supervising the sort of environment in which people get various sorts of vocational rehab, back to work, 12-step support. Now, this particular facility where he was, I think, was more of a residential-type facility. And so there's hospital, there's medical and psychiatric hospital, there's residential, and then they're sober living. And residential does have a higher level of services and various trained professionals around,

but again, doctors are not allowed to practice there. Okay. See, I would think you would have to have a doctor to help. I mean, you can't just beat addiction. It's compelling. It's an overwhelming desire that you can't control. And so everybody's supposed to sit in a circle and say, I'm not going to do drugs again and then go to their rooms.

I mean, to me, this whole sober living environment sounds like a king-sized bed with the fancy Egyptian cotton sheets, a pool and a hot tub. That's what it is? And you think he's going to get well and they claim? Yeah, you're getting at another issue, which is really important, which is that the treatment of drug addiction requires insane amounts of manpower and all sorts of professional services. of which, again, in California, are not allowed to reach the patient, which is a whole giant topic in and of itself. But yes, it's a manpower issue.

There has to be a dedicated staff whose calling is to treat these people because it's a terrible business. There's no way you could pay the staff and the personnel enough to meet the needs of the addict patient. So if they're making money, it's not going to be a good treatment. That's my fundamental position. That is a sober living environment, as you were saying. Okay, you got a pool, you got a hot tub, you got the fancy sheets, you got the gourmet food. Where? Luxury home.

Luxury home, my rear end, luxury home, they need him to get well. And here's the deal, Dr. Drew. How are, here I am, a veteran trial lawyer I've dealt with, I can't tell you how many HVs have. violators that have DUI, DUI, DUI until somebody's dead over and over and over. I, how is Cindy, we don't know about it and the public doesn't know about it. How is a supermodel Cindy Crawford supposed to know that a sober living environment is not helping her son? How is she supposed to know that?

Because if you see sober living environment, it sounds like they're going to get them well. Yeah. Yeah. And again, you're pointing out the luxury environment. He should have been up the street in North Hollywood at Cry Help or at Impact House in Pasadena, which are bare bones, sit your ass down, listen to what the staff is telling you, get sober. But some of the videos that this poor guy, look, he got a lot of care and some of it, to my eye, look really quite good.

So it's not like they weren't trying. It wasn't like he didn't get good care. but some of the videos he put out in the weeks and months prior to his demise suggests that he was calling the shots on his care. He was going down to Mexico and getting ibogaine. He was managing his own benzodiazepines. When the addict manages the care determines where they're going, when they're going, what they're using,

their brain is diseased. And when the addict is in any way in charge of the care, the outcomes are always bad. Now how they got to that point where he was calling the shots, I don't know. Yeah. Look at this video. This is from his Insta. I began, I said the other day, why don't you just wave a chicken claw over his head?

What is this? What are they, what is that? Is she a shaman? What is she? I don't know. I don't know what that is. I think it's sage or something. But, you know, the Iblegain thing is very controversial.

Oh, what? Did you just say sage? Did you just say sage? Like you're going to burn sage around him and he's going to get well? Actually, that is what that looks like. Mm-hmm. Didn't help, did it? What's Ibrahimine?

Ibrahimine is a very powerful hallucinogenic. It's ayahuasca. Ibogain, people use it. I'm very concerned about it. It does help people with their drive to use opiates for about three to six months. And then in my experience, virtually 100% of people go back. So I'm not an enthusiast for that. That's one of the many things he tried.

And he, again, as I said, had some care that was quite good along the way. And why it got so sideways, it's hard to say. You know, the other thing, Nancy, is the family's got to do their piece. And I hope they did. And some of it may be, you know, being very firm with boundaries with him. And maybe that's how he ended up calling some of the shots. and it ended up being the medical system, which is usually what takes addicts out and doesn't do them as much good as that we should. But again, as I said at the beginning, so much of that in California

in particular is the result of the laws here and the insurance companies. I stayed at that facility resolutions around four or five years ago. I went from inpatient rehab to resolutions, which is a sober living. It's not a rehab. A lot of people are saying he passed away in rehab, and that's not rehab. There's a difference between rehab and sober living. Sober living is like a transitional phase that usually going from inpatient rehab to more lax but semi-structured housing. It's like halfway transitioning to living on your own with a lot less structure and support. I stayed there for two months and there's a lot of people thinking like oh my god how could there be so little oversight in such a fancy rehab sober living and the truth is is that this happens all the time unfortunately

this happens all the time and there is only so much a facility can do in prohibiting drugs or you know substances from getting in and out of these facilities I mean some places strip search you, and even that's not enough. Sometimes there is gross negligence on the facilities part, but to be honest, you know, I don't know the exact details of what happened, you know, at resolutions just a few days ago, but when I was there, my bags were checked, my person was not checked, but that's standard. That is broke back Contessa on TikTok. Dr. Drew, addicts that I've encountered, and that would be literally thousands of them. They are not going to willingly turn out their pockets and give you their dope.

So this sounds like, again, the rits, where they take your bags and just let you walk off with dope in your pocket. No, listen, you heard what he said. It's not legally able to check the person. Now, in a psychiatric hospital, you can check the person very carefully. And that is absolutely required. When somebody goes into treatment, the first thing they do, or the last thing they do, is they load up. They get on a last hurrah. They almost always do that.

And those doses that they take at the end there can be quite dangerous. And it's also, as a part of that, they cram stuff in their socks and their underwear in body parts. That's part of the deal. So if you're not going to monitor them for that overdose, you sure is. heck better check them better on their body for the substances somehow. But I can't tell you, Nancy, the laws in this state is why we have homelessness. The laws in this state are so messed up. You can't even imagine it. People, doctors, nurses can't treat addicts. We're not allowed to in multiple environments. And if the patient doesn't say, hey, I want to get well right now and stay

well, which never happens, as you said, you're not allowed anywhere near them. Dr. Drew, I'm questioning the decision by the, quote, sober living environment. He had been on ketamine to help him get straight. He had, I mean, ketamine, Matthew Perry, dead, hot tub. He had had the Abigene, I believe I'm pronouncing it correctly, treatment. I believe in Mexico, not in the U.S. that I know of. It's a psychedelic treatment where you go on a trip. You know, Dr. Drew, I actually had a friend, a very dear friend in the cable industry, die, perfectly sane, great businessman, super

smart, and he was having a similar treatment to deal with trauma as a child. I don't understand it, but he ends up dead in the San Francisco Bay, Dr. Drew, I'm totally against any psychedelic treatments. But to here and now, with his history of ketamine attempts at getting straight of Abbegene, didn't they know this guy has been to hell and back? You don't just let him go to his room to die. You're paying 15 grand to die? Listen, the outrage is appropriate.

and he had the usual services that you get at that level of care. Was he treated in other environments? You know, there was another issue, unfortunately, with the owners of this program, a psychologist couple. He is a recovering meth addict, allegedly, and has a very substantial legal history himself. Now, I like the idea that a recovering person is running these programs. they tend to work better that way.

But you don't know. You don't know who these people are. Did you see him walking around L.A. in a bizarre poncho? Like, I'm going to hand my kid over to a guy walking around in a weird poncho around L.A. with a meth history. That's just me. I want to see a doctor in a doctor's coat with a steth. Right?

Okay. That's just me. But back to you. No poncho. There's almost nowhere in California that I can refer a patient to for drug treatment. Just know that. Almost nowhere. Betty Ford still manages to do a good job. Meadows has some things here.

But other than that, I send people out of state almost without exception. So so much of this is not a function of that program or that kid or the doctors that were attempting to help him as an outpatient. But the state, the sorry state of sober living and even residential care in California. The word rehab has been adulterated. Let's call it what it should be. Psychiatric hospitalization. That's what it should be. And it just has deteriorated largely because of insurance resources

and hospitals' inability to deliver those cares, but secondarily because of lobby groups in Sacramento and do-gooters that are engaged in negligent manslaughter throughout the state. Not just this one little example. This is a very tragic example. But on the streets here in California, six to eight die a day. In not California. Los Angeles, just Los Angeles.

It is a mess here. And it is a function of our government and how we allow these organizations to operate. And then how the insurance companies themselves are allowed to operate. So there is guilt all the way down. That ain't helping Cindy Crawford. And you were talking about usual services that are offered at sober living environments. And I'm reading verbatim. That would include fitness area, chef prepared meals, recreational amenities.

How in the H.E.E. D.L. Is that going to get him straight and alive? Who cares? That means nothing to me. And now he's dead. He's being cremated, Dr. Drew. Yeah. Listen, as I said, if you're making money doing drug treatment, the overwhelming probability is it's not good care. That's just the way it is. That is just a go to cry help, go to impact. There are programs here that are bare bones. People get sober. They're not luxury environments like that.

Trust me. And that's where people actually get sober. And not in, I don't refer people to programs like that. For the very reason you're pointing out. Hand over fist, Drew. It's all about the money. Yeah, that's a problem. It is definitely a risky ethical choice.

to prescribe someone who is actively so involved in addiction, another addictive substance, particularly when they're not in a controlled setting, which is all the more reason why it is very odd to me that he was even put into a sober living in the first place. The number one thing that jumps out to me as being the most unethical and wrong about the story being that he came into a sober living facility high and died the next day. He should never have been there in the first place. he should have been transferred immediately to a hospital where he could detox and get well.

That is Michael Bazillo MFT on TikTok to Dr. Kendall Crowns joining us. You know him well. He is the chief medical examiner, Terrant County, star of Mayhem in the morgue. He is an esteemed lecturer at Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. Dr. Kendall Crowns has handled so many ODs, he probably can't even count them. Dr. Kimmel-Kraounds explain what everyone is talking about, that if he came in high, he should not have been allowed to go to his room, like a fifth grader. Why? Well, the fact that he's already intoxicated or high when he walks in, it means he's inebriated and you don't know what necessarily he's taken. He could have a combination of alcohol and other drugs or a combination of multiple other drugs and is slowly succumbing

to the effects of these drugs and could, if not being monitored, actually end up dead, which is what happened in this case. Just because he's high doesn't mean he's coming down from the drug. He can still have an incident of passing out, a cardiac arrhythmia or a regular heartbeat. It's all dependent on what he took before he walked through the door. Plus, did he have any drugs on him tucked away somewhere and then took him after he got in the facility and then pushed him over the edge. Really, if someone has already compromised when they walk in, they should be monitored until they are out of that state. What do you mean by that, Dr. Kendall Crowns? He should have been monitored. I mean, at the least, I would think that they would, at the least, check his pockets,

check anywhere he could be stashing drugs, and that includes body crevices to make sure, because when you're under the influence or you're an addict, you cannot control yourself. I mean, that's correct. They should check every area, including the rectal, oral, anywhere drugs could be tucked in because you don't know what he's coming in with. Often in these rehab facilities, that is the case that they've brought something in with them, and then they take it shortly after arrival and end up overdosing. We do see this not all the time, but fairly often, where someone,

dies in rehab, either because they got drugs from a friend or they brought it in with them. In addition to Chief Medical Exxenter in Tarrant County, Dr. Kendall Crowns, Dr. Bethany Marshall is joining us. You can see Bethany on Hulu, Peacock, Bravo. She is a star of a hit new podcast on the couch with Dr. Bethany Marshall. And find her at Dr. Bethanymarshal.com. Dr. Bethany, weigh in. These sober living facilities do not. not have clinical treatment, psychiatrists, medical services, nothing, not even group therapy, Nancy. And the reason for that, as the anchor just mentioned, if they have these kinds of services, then

they have to get licensed. So not having treatment services allows them to fly beneath the radar. However, they do search patients before they come in and they go through all of their belongings, Nancy, but they do not take their underwear off. So people who admit, even if they're high, they can take drugs with them. And also people who are, you know, coming down from drug abuse, they're very crafty in terms of getting drugs. So often they'll have a family, a friend or somebody, a dealer come and, you know, hide drugs under a rock outside the facility. And then they'll say to somebody in the house, oh, hey, I need to go for a walk.

So it's very easy to procure drugs once you are in this very loose environment. Nancy, it is so important to not go into one of these facilities until and unless you have had a medical detox. Dr. Bethany, have you seen the founder wandering around L.A. wearing a bizarre poncho? him like where's the doctor's outfit where's the stethoscope where's the clipboard what what is that and I'm learning tonight

he has arrest he's got an arrest record for Pete's sake what is this I'm going to hand my son there's no way that Cindy Crawford and her husband Randy Gerber knew what was happening because this is sober living environment what is that

and this guy Is he in charge of letting Presley Gerber just walk in while he was potentially high and leave him alone to his own devices? Now he's dead? What's happening, Dr. Bethany? You know, Nancy, addiction treatment is a very sleazy business. I hate to say it, even though I have patients suffering from addiction. I try to refer them out for services. But even Betty Ford, Nancy, in their group therapy sessions, they do not.

have licensed therapists. They have people who are getting their hours, people who are in training. These rehab facilities and sober living facilities, they try to cut costs wherever they can. It's kind of like snake oil, Nancy, big promises, low delivery. And this guy walking around with this weird poncho, that's just plain disrespectful. Somebody has died in his facility and he's walking around looking like that knowing he's going to be photographed. Nancy, I'm not surprised that somebody who has a rap sheet has opened a facility like this because these facilities are not monitored. It's a perfect, perfect business for somebody like that. Those who are criticizing, you know, how cushy this place was and they would have been better served in a more, a more medical,

you know, looking facility. The buy-in is the biggest part of healing. of getting better. If you don't have your child's buy-in to where they're going and the treatment, it's not going to work. From Molly Dane Media on TikTok. This record is on. Miley is having a moment.

New name, new albums, close to shows. So IHart Radio is sending you to experience it all. Life at the Hollywood hotel, tickets, and $1,000 cash. Listen to IHart new music for 10 minutes a day on the IHart Radio app and click enter. Every day you listen is another chance to win. Stream Miley's new album, Bass Persuades, today. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Joining us now is a veteran trial attorney Franz Borghardt, criminal defense attorney founder, Borghardt Law Firm, former prosecutor. Franz, come on. This guy, the one walking around in the poncho, has not been charged. He's not been named a suspect or a P-O-I person of interest. But the wolves have got to be circling because this young man goes in for help and he dies within 24 hours. And it sounds like we don't know this for sure. Nobody to check. No one checked to see if he had drugs on his body. So what's unclear to me, Nancy, is we've been throwing the term sober living facility around,

but then it also sounds like a rehab facility. I'm not clear which it is. And that may be a defense to him is, hey, look, I wasn't about the rehab world. I was about sober living. I spoke to my sources. They tell me the family is just devastated. Cindy is inconsolable, but also has a lot of questions. How could drugs get inside a secure facility?

This facility, this place was built to help people. I did speak to somebody who is a former patient of the very same facility organisation, and they told me that drugs were available inside the rehab. This sounds shocking. However, my sources tell me it's not that unusual. That's Rob Sheeter, author of a brand new book, climbing the charts. Queen Elizabeth 3, the New American House of Windsor, still standing by that claim that people that have been in this facility before had access to drugs. Yeah, absolutely, Nancy.

I spoke to somebody shortly after we found out about this death. I'd heard about this facility. It's pretty well known in California. A lot of celebrities have stayed there. A lot of people over the years have been in an ad of this place. And it's not that unusual. There are many, many facilities that look like this, that sound like this, that are making a lot of money, particularly in Malibu, particularly in California.

And I spoke to a former, shall I use the word, patient? I don't know if it's a patient or a client, but I spoke to somebody who had stayed there, and they said it was a lovely place to stay, and they had great food, and they certainly were on the same, And they certainly were in the lap of luxury, but they got absolutely no treatment and maybe even more concerning. There were drugs inside this place. Rob Schuter, I know you've dealt with a lot of celebrities.

But I don't care about the, quote, great food. This guy's dead. That can't be undone. It can't be fixed. Now, I know Rob Shooter that they bill themselves as a sober living environment. And they can argue, hey, I never said I was a rehab. I never said we had medical doctors. But what about the fact that according to claims,

there are drugs within the sober living environment, and he was not physically searched according to reports? I don't care how they bill themselves. even I, a trial lawyer, no, that's not okay, if true. Yeah, it's definitely something that is going to be investigated and it should be investigated. However, you are, people do take illegal drugs into hotels, into apartments, into people's homes. And this is what this place is basically billing itself as a place to have a little bit of a time out.

They would argue they never, ever said they were a rehab facility. You know what? I just put you. in the corner for a minute, Rob Sheeter, speaking of timeout. To Dave Matt, Crime Stories, investigative reporter, does the founder have a rap sheet? He does. He has a massive rap sheet. Let me hit you with this.

He was arrested. He was actually found asleep in his car in an area known for a drug trafficking, drug buying outside of Oakland, California, with a 15-year-old girl in the car with him. He's passed out. Oh, that's me backing up. Did you say a 15-year-old girl? Yep, added that in there because when the police knock on the window, he's asleep.

The girl's awake. They talk to her first, and she's like, yeah, I'm on drugs. I'm on meth. So is he. They wake him up, and they find out, yeah, he's got meth, a glass meth pipe, marijuana, and, by the way, a 357, okay? He's got a firearm with ammunition. Now, he is able to, because of the way,

the drug charges work in LA, or in California, rather, he's able to plead no contest to this charge and is given 36 months probation. But Nancy, less than 30 days after getting that probation, dude gets arrested again. Same thing. He's not passed out this time, but he tries to sell meth to an undercover officer. That gets him arrested the second time. Now, this is the arrest he claims. Dr. Raisin Nabobov, he claims that that's when he got sober. It was the second arrest. So what he claims. But the guy has a massive rap sheet when you start looking at methamphetamine, 15-year-old

girls, passed out in a drug place with a gun. Okay. I'm just trying to absorb all of that. You know, Shooter, I can understand someone that creates or founds a sober living environment or rehab may have a history. And maybe that drove them to get clean and try. to help other people. But the claim that he was, did I hear Dave Mac correctly that he tried to sell to an undercover

agent? I think that's what I heard. That's not an addict trying to get clean. That's a felony. It is, Nancy. This is really, really alarming. And I'm told that this is just the tip of the iceberg. We're going to find out a lot more information about this individual.

However, let me be clear. often rehab facilities, treatment facilities are run, are founded by people who have had troubles in their past and want to help set that straight. I just said that. I just said that and you're acting like you're having an original thought. I just said that. I'm agreeing with you. I'm putting you back in time out. You need to think about what you just said.

Now again, no one has been charged and no one has been named a person. of interest. But to Dr. Kendall Crowns, Dr. Crowns, could you just explain why an addict cannot control what they're doing? I am not condoning it. I'm saying that's what addicts experience. They can't stop themselves. Once you get on it, you can't get off. You're correct. It is very difficult to wean yourself from a drug that you're dependent on or other addictive behaviors. It is kind of a mental problem that takes therapy and even medication and a number of other things to get past. I actually think Dr. Bethany Marshall would probably be better at explaining this than me. But again, addiction is a definite problem that people

struggle with constantly and often end up sadly how this individual ended up dying. Dr. Bethany, what about it? Because these substances hijacked the dopaminergic aspects of the brain. That was what helped our ancient ancestors to survive. It drove us towards actions. So this part of the brain is hardwired in terms of survival. Also, a lot of these patients have trauma. We know Presley Gerber went out into the modeling world at a young age, which could be traumatic for a 14 or 15-year-old. These substances are highly habit-forming. And then once somebody gets addicted, the addiction is reinforced by their environment.

So then there's a feedback loop between them and everyone around them that supports the addiction, not his loving family, of course, but people who are also addictive. And that's why in program they tell people in recovery to stay away from places, people, and things that made you use because you have to completely train yourself to not have that habit anymore. to Rob Shooter, PR guru to the stars and author of the new book, Queen Elizabeth 3, the New American House of Windsor. Rob, I'm trying to figure out how the family, how Gerber's family, is managing all of this because they're dealing with the death of their only son, their only brother.

They opposed him going into the sober living environment. I don't know why. Maybe they thought that it wouldn't work because it's not a real rehab. There are no doctors working there. They don't have medical doctors there. So they're doing all of that and in a fishbowl, and now people are starting to blame them. Yeah, yeah.

It's heartbreaking. They're absolutely devastated. They're inconsolable. We have seen that Randy, his father, went back to Presley's home just a few days ago. I can only imagine what that must be like. turning up at the house and your son no longer being there. What I'm hearing is it's his sister who is really, really struggling the most. They were best friends. They felt that they had been through this extraordinary life together. There's barely a time that either one of them

were around without the other. They're that close in age. And so what I'm hearing from my family sources here is just a really, really devastating, had picture being painted of a family who are trying to figure this out. And now their grief is still there. They've not moved past it. But they are asking, could we have done anything different? And I think a lot of parents ask that. A lot of parents who have been through this sort of pain wonder, is there something different? Am I to blame for this? And as they're dealing with that, people are starting to point fingers. If you know or think you know anything about what happened to this young man,

please dial 310458-8-8491 or if you need help, simply call or text 9888. We remember an American hero, Deputy Sheriff Ryan Thomas Valencia County Sheriff's, New Mexico, just 30, killed in the line of duty. behind a pregnant wife, Joyce, American hero, Deputy Sheriff Ryan Thomas. Thanks to our guests, but especially to you for being with us. Nancy Gray signing off for tonight, but I'll see you tomorrow night. And until then, good night, friend. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.