A felon charged with impersonating a therapist at Michigan autism treatment center ordered to trial

Oakland County, Michigan (Fox 2) – An Oakland County woman with a felony record is on trial accused of falsifying her credentials to work as a therapist for an autistic child.

Kimberly Casey Coden-Diskin has been accused of lying about her education and qualifications to get a job at the Oxford Recovery Center in Brighton in 2018.

Officials said she was never licensed by the state of Michigan. She used professional business cards, verbal statements, and written documents to pose as a licensed medical professional. She also turned up a college degree she said she didn’t get, and took advantage of another state-certified therapist’s accreditation number. The doctor said Coden-Diskin used her number three times, and records confirm this.

A FOX 2 story in which Coden-Diskin posed as a board certified behavioral analyst turned to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel for an investigation.

“Unfortunately, employers can’t always trust what applicants represent to them. Due diligence often requires verification of legally required qualifications.” “My office is ready to step in if a situation arises where someone pretends to be a medical professional,” Nessel said.

Coden-Diskin has been charged with 16 counts of unauthorized healthcare worker conduct and two counts of identity theft. She was also charged with witness intimidation for allegedly communicating with witnesses in her original case.

what happened

Kim Harden sent her 10-year-old daughter, Kennedy, to the Oxford Recovery Center in Brighton. She was making great progress with her professional treatment, but she suddenly began to regress. Then Kim found out she wasn’t the only parent to this troubled child.

It’s hard to leave your child in someone else’s hands. Now imagine that your child is non-verbal and needs a professional treatment program.

“I was scared to send her off somewhere and not know what her day was like and what was going on because she couldn’t communicate with me,” Kim said.

Kim’s fears came true when Kennedy came home shaken by an unexplained injury.

The woman who ran the program, Casey Dickin, was a convicted felon and fraudster who had stolen another certified behavior analyst’s medical credentials for years.

Kim admits that she was always overprotective of Kennedy, who was 18 months old when he was first diagnosed with autism.

“She’s pretty serious. She just recently got potty trained — within the last year. No communication — she’s non-verbal,” Kim said.

Initially, Kennedy’s treatment was done in the comfort of his own home using applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy. A Board Certified Behavioral Analyst (BCBA) assesses children with severe autism and uses science in an individualized way to improve behavioral, communication, learning, and social skills.

And it worked.

“It was working. She started reciting her name, address, age and family, so I thought this was perfect,” Kim said.

Things were going well, so the Harden family contacted Brighton’s Oxford Recovery Center for professional testing and treatment that could expedite her progress.

It was a decision she came to regret.

“I get a few calls from Casey Diskin introducing himself as a BCBA-accredited arts program director who studied in Australia,” said Kim.

Diskin gave them a business card stating that she was the director of the ABA and BCBA. It was listed in her bio, along with countless medical facilities focused on autism. She was featured in a video on the Center’s website with founder and CEO Tami Her Patterson explaining her technique.

However, Kim finds out that Diskin is not a Board Certified Behavioral Analyst. She says Diskin is totally unqualified. In fact, she said, she found herself using the credentials of someone else, her BCBA named Dr. Kimberly Peck.

Dr. Peck said this wasn’t the first time she used her information.

“This is her third job with my certification number. to the point of reassigning new numbers to ,” said Dr. Peck. He said.

Dr. Peck is a board-certified behavioral analyst at the doctoral level and a licensed behavioral analyst. She first learned about her identity theft when she was contacted by her healthcare provider several years ago.

She said Dickin used the name Kimberly Corden and submitted a certification number to apply for the job.

“The story she tells is Kimberly Peck, her maiden name – from a messy divorce or something,” Dr. Peck said.

She used Peck’s information but didn’t do the job. But in 2015, she used it again. In this case, we used a National Provider Identifier (NPI) that allows us to bill insurance companies. Diskin launched her own medical organization called Children’s Alliance of Metro Her Detroit.

It was based in Madisonville, downtown Detroit. FOX 2 was kicked out after learning she no longer lived there and was running her business and billing insurance companies from her home.

Records show that she worked for multiple autism-focused healthcare providers and used Peck’s accreditation number, NPI, and a fake license number. One was Centria Autism in Novi and admitted she had worked there for 90 days, but they didn’t know.

“It can be very dangerous if you don’t appreciate what you’re doing and those things, even from a jump. For someone to feel empowered to do this I can’t express enough how worried I am, Peck said.

Even more disturbing, Dickin, who has worked with the most vulnerable children, has been convicted of a felony. She is listed as Kimberly Casey Corden Diskin and has been convicted of two counts of identity theft and theft from a building.

Police in West Bloomfield Township said she stole thousands of dollars and a credit card from her mother’s cousin. Then she did the same to her mother-in-law, stealing her jewelry and a year later stealing her identity to open credit cards and access bank accounts.

According to court records, her family persuaded Diskin to admit her to a psychiatric hospital.

“The biggest question I have is how can anyone take this seriously,” Dr. Peck said.

For years, Dr. Peck has been dealing with stolen credentials, which he says have been reported to the state, Diskin’s parole agent, and the BACB, the national board that issues certificates.

Diskin’s name is listed on a bulletin board website that says she tampered with her credentials.

Despite this, she was able to land a job at the Oxford Recovery Center in 2018.

FOX 2 went to the Oxford Recovery Center to find out more. We’ve seen Diskin arrive to start the day, but what’s concerning is behind closed doors, including the resignation of several employees, including medical director Dr. Christian Bogner.

The center, which is building a new autism center in Brighton, knew about Diskin’s past. CEO Tami Peterson confirmed in an email she sent to FOX 2’s Taryn Usher:

She also said that Dickin has been “an exemplary employee since being hired.”

Although she is not accredited, Diskin created and directs the Autism Services ARTS program at Oxford. The integrative approach the center advocates can lead to recovery.

According to Kim Harden, Diskin was convinced it was the best treatment for his daughter who could not speak. But Kim noticed a big shift in the wrong direction.

“When I sent her there, she was happy and always smiling. When we left there, she couldn’t even catch their names,” Kim said.

Kim said Kennedy did well at first. But in February 2020, she returned home with bruises and marks on her body.While Oxford services continued during the pandemic, Kennedy was set back.

Kim contacts an autism support group and finds out about Diskin’s criminal record and falsified credentials.

“So I’m panicking. Totally panicking,” Kim said.

Harden learned that she wasn’t alone, but that several families shared the same concerns. They also believed Diskin, who created an autism program and was expected to help children, was a fraudster.

“I trusted these people, but she is not who she claimed to be. Because no, I don’t know, Kim said.

In 2020, several concerned parents went to the Michigan State Police to file a complaint. FOX 2 has obtained police reports alleging abuse of children. Investigators spoke with an Oxford employee, a child abuse expert, with the lone verbal child who described being locked in a “calm room” and held in four-point custody for more than three hours.

MSP also interviewed Peterson, who claimed the allegations were false, especially since they were not caught on surveillance cameras. We asked his MSP about the investigation, and Lt. Erik Darling told FOX 2 he was unable to establish that a crime had occurred.

When FOX 2 went to the Oxford Recovery Center, they were asked to make an appointment to discuss the allegations.

There are details about what is happening inside the Center. Sources in Oxford’s claims department say Diskin would write reviews for children, but she’s not legally eligible. Even if you use the behavior analyst or doctor’s name and certification number and charge the customer in cash.

Licensed professionals who did not want to be identified because they already have another job or fear reprisals are unaware that their names are being used to bill insurance companies or customers said.

Ned Cook, a marketing manager at Oxford, was shown some documents.

“One of the things I see from what you showed me is, yes, we were aware in the past that she may have tampered with the license. is here, so she’s not doing it.”

Peterson responded by email, saying the accusations were false. She claims Dickin was never involved in any improper billing and has spoken with Peterson about creating programs on videos and working directly with children, but Peterson has denied Dickin’s position. is only management and administration and does not require a license.

“I think it’s unethical at least. As you’ve seen, it’s scary for people like Mr. Harden because people go to Mr. Harden in desperate situations. Seeking behavioral therapy for our children, trusting where they go, and it can lead to people not being properly trained and adopting evidence-based and safe practices. Failure to do so will lead to dangerous consequences.