The owner of the luxury rehab where Presley Gerber died of a suspected overdose was a twice-arrested methamphetamine dealer who somehow obtained a California psychology license and built a treatment empire — and the system that green-lit him is the same one collecting billions from taxpayers and insurers to "treat" addiction while the bodies pile up.

Gerber, 27, the son of supermodel Cindy Crawford and businessman Rande Gerber, was found dead September 20 at Resolutions Living in Santa Monica, a sober living program operated under Resolutions Therapeutic Services. The facility's founder and executive clinical director is Dr. Reza Nabavi, a man whose credentials sound impeccable on paper. His company website touts "over 20 years of clinical experience" and specialization in substance use disorders. What the bio leaves out: Nabavi built that career after two drug arrests, a conviction for possession of methamphetamine for sale, and years of licensing battles with the state of California.

According to legal documents obtained by USA Today, Oakland police in early 2002 found Nabavi, then 25, asleep in a car with a 15-year-old girl in an area known for narcotics. A search turned up methamphetamine, marijuana, a knife, a handgun, and ammunition. Nabavi was arrested for possession for sale of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana for sale. He pleaded no contest to the first charge; the second was dropped. An Alameda County judge sentenced him to 36 months probation.

Less than four weeks later, Nabavi was arrested again — this time for agreeing to sell methamphetamine to a confidential informant. He pleaded no contest again and received the same sentence.

Nabavi applied for his psychology license in 2004. The California Board of Psychology denied him. He reapplied in 2005 and was denied again. He registered as a psychological assistant in January 2006, but the board revoked his registration the very next month while negotiating conditions tied to his criminal record. He ultimately received a five-year probationary term mandating psychological evaluation, employer notification, weekly monitoring by a licensed psychologist, drug and alcohol treatment, and random testing.

The board terminated his probation early in May 2008. His license is currently active through June 30, 2028. Nabavi launched Resolutions Therapeutic Services in 2013, after a stint as director of family services at Promises Malibu, a celebrity rehab that has since shuttered. USA Today reached out to Nabavi for comment; he has not publicly responded.

Yahoo reported that Gerber's death certificate lists his cause of death as pending investigation and that he was cremated. His family is arranging a funeral. A family representative told Entertainment Weekly they are "asking for privacy during this very difficult and painful time."

Gerber himself had been open about his struggles. He was arrested for DUI in 2019 and pleaded no contest, receiving probation, community service, and a DUI program. In a February 2023 interview on the Studio 22 Podcast, Gerber said he wanted to help others: "That's what I really want to do — help people get out of whether you're depressed [or] struggling with something that's having a negative effect on your body. What I hope I can do is have made the mistakes for some other people, so they don't have to make the same mistakes that I made."

Instead, he became another casualty of an industry that takes billions in insurance payouts and public funds while operating with stunningly thin oversight. California's Board of Psychology had every reason to keep Nabavi out of the field. They let him in anyway, cut his probation short, and set him loose to found rehab facilities catering to vulnerable people. Yahoo framed the story around Gerber's cremation and family grief; USA Day dug into the owner's record. Neither outlet asked the question that matters most: how many more convicted drug dealers are running "treatment" centers across this country, and how many more people have to die before state boards and lawmakers treat this industry like the racket it is?

The rehab industrial complex doesn't need more funding. It needs audits, accountability, and the political will to shut down the operators who should never have been licensed in the first place.