PROSECUTORS SAY `REHAB PROGRAM' KILLED A MAN WITH FORCE-FED ALCOHOL

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Enrique Bravo's battle with alcohol ended with his
death. Prosecutors contend it was an attempted cure that killed him -- and
perhaps others.

Four members of a storefront alcohol and drug recovery group were jailed on
charges of manslaughter, accused of tying up the 32-year-old Bravo and
force-feeding him alcohol May 25 in a misguided aversion therapy.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office has not determined the cause of
death, but it was being investigated as a homicide, coroner's spokesman
Scott Carrier said.

Police are looking into the deaths of at least seven other men who may have
died under similar circumstances in the county over the past two years, the
Los Angeles Times reported today. Many victims were apparently forced to
drink rubbing alcohol, a source told the newspaper.

Prosecutor Craig Renetzky told the Times this week that Bravo was fed
``nothing but alcohol'' and was kept restrained in a room with another man,
who survived the same medically unsupervised treatment.

``The idea was that the guy would later hate alcohol so much he wouldn't
drink anymore,'' Renetzky said. ``But the guy died.''

Bravo was pronounced dead at the clinic, Grupo Liberacion y Fortaleza
(Liberation and Strength Group) in the San Fernando Valley.

The four suspects worked as volunteers and some had been through the same
program, the prosecutor said.

Alberto Saguache, 38; Armando Nestor Sakaqil, 29; Dante Rosillo Barrera, 32,
and Jose Robert Rodriguez, 45, pleaded innocent to one count each of
involuntary manslaughter and two counts each of false imprisonment.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for today.

Those familiar with alcohol treatment programs said what Bravo allegedly
went through was neither common nor accepted.

``This is obviously some kind of bizarre notion of how you help people get
clean and sober,'' said Bill Gallegos, chairman of the Los Angeles County
Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Policy Coalition.

Effectively dealing with alcoholism requires dealing with psychological,
emotional and even genetic roots of the problem and requires patients to
``commit their lives to a day-by-day process of staying clean,'' Gallegos said.

Experts said some alcohol programs use aversion therapy; some give patients
a drug to make them nauseous after ingesting alcohol. However, all are
medically supervised and never involve alcohol overdoses.

Bravo may have turned to an unlicensed and unsupervised program because of a
widespread shortage of treatment facilities, Gallegos said.

``And that's the sad thing,'' he said.

On Wednesday, a handful of people milled around outside the shabby, empty
storefront of the self-help group. A sign taped to the window said the
location was ``temporarily closed due to a death'' and asked anyone with
information to contact homicide detectives.

Jose Luis Ramirez, a 27-year-old truck driver from North Hollywood, said he
and others started the grassroots group in 1994 as a place to talk about
their alcoholism -- the kind of group encounters used by Alcoholics Anonymous.

As many as 50 people a day would gather to talk and counsel each other.
Ramirez said the informal membership chipped in for rent and food, and some
people were allowed to live in the place for weeks or even months until they
found jobs.

Ramirez said he neither saw nor heard of aversion therapy being used, but
said some alcoholics were given liquor to stave off withdrawal symptoms.

``We feel bad when we stop to drink, you know?'' he said. ``So we give them
a little shot (of) alcohol to stop the shaking ... Nobody died from a little
shot of alcohol.''

Ramirez said he didn't believe his friends forced anyone to drink. As for
Bravo, ``I think he died because he was drinking for a long time ... before
he came here.''

He estimated as many as 3,000 people had been involved with the group.

``We help a lot of people every day,'' he said. ``We do a good job, I think.''

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett