Presley Gerber, the son of supermodel Cindy Crawford, was found dead of a suspected drug overdose in a mansion-like sober living home located in an elite section of Santa Monica. Gerber had entered the Resolutions Living home on a Saturday night and was found deceased the following morning. His death has brought forth a range of questions regarding how a fatal overdose could occur within such a facility, especially given the growing scrutiny facing the sober living industry across California.
Santa Monica Police are actively investigating the origin of the drugs Gerber had taken. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner is awaiting toxicology results to determine the official cause of death. Beyond being the location of the death, the specific role of Resolutions Living in these investigations remains unclear.
The California Department of Health Care Services has launched its own investigation into Resolutions Living. This probe comes after the department received a complaint alleging that the sober living home might be providing services that would necessitate a state license, according to spokesperson Anthony Cava. Resolutions Living operates in what has been described as a "regulatory gray area," as it is not authorized to provide medical care. Under state and federal law, sober living homes are often protected as residences for people with disabilities, and there is currently no single state agency responsible for monitoring or tracking their locations. This lack of oversight has fueled calls for increased regulation.
Resolutions Living is owned by psychologist Reza Nabavi and his wife, clinical psychologist Maryam Akbar. The couple acquired the property in Santa Monica's wealthy Northeast neighborhood for $5.8 million in 2021, a property now valued at $7.7 million, featuring seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a library, and a movie theater. They also purchased a neighboring property for $4.45 million in 2022. The medical component of their program, Resolutions Therapeutic Services, a licensed mental health treatment facility, operates from a separate medical office building approximately a mile away. Resolutions Living itself is not subject to state regulatory oversight because it functions as a recovery home without offering on-site treatment.
Nabavi himself has a documented history of struggling with substance use issues. In 2002, Oakland Police arrested him after finding him asleep in a car with a gun, methamphetamine, and a 15-year-old girl. He was charged with felony drug possession with a firearm, later pleading no contest to a lesser charge of misdemeanor drug possession. About a month later, he was arrested again in Oakland with methamphetamine and a glass pipe, again pleading no contest to drug possession under Proposition 36, which allows for treatment instead of jail time for certain drug offenses.
His past convictions initially posed a hurdle to his career. The California Psychology Board denied his psychology license application in 2004 due to the drug possession convictions. However, the board approved his license in 2006, placing him on a five-year probationary registration that included requirements for substance use treatment and random drug testing. In 2008, Nabavi successfully petitioned the board to end his probation early, asserting he had been clean and sober since May 2002, completed drug programs, and obtained advanced degrees, with his practice focused on addiction.
Before co-owning Resolutions Living, Nabavi worked as director of family services at the Promises treatment center in Malibu from 2006 to 2011. A 2007 Los Angeles Times investigation revealed Promises had been cited by state regulators for providing medical services beyond its license scope and faced consumer protection lawsuits. Public records do not indicate Nabavi was a defendant in these lawsuits. More recently, in 2020, Nabavi was sued by a former Resolutions Therapeutic Services patient over alleged denied insurance benefits and charges for urine tests, though the suit was later dismissed.
The broader challenge of regulating sober living homes in California is not new. Between 1998 and 2016, at least 25 bills aimed at affecting these homes were introduced in the state Legislature, but none ultimately became law. More recently, Assemblymember Laurie Davies (R-Laguna Niguel) introduced Assembly Bill 423, which sought to require business-operated recovery homes to register with the State Department of Health Care Services. This proposal also failed to advance.
Davies expressed frustration over the bill's lack of traction, noting that it would have simply allowed the state to track the number and locations of recovery homes. "We can’t get an accurate count of how many recovery homes even exist in California," Davies stated, adding, "And you cannot regulate what you can’t see." She suggested that part of the resistance to increased oversight might stem from the Department of Health Care Services being understaffed, leading to lengthy investigation times for even licensed facilities.
Pete Nielsen, president of the California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals, has long advocated for a certification process for recovery homes in the state. He highlighted the current situation in a blog post, stating, "Today, there is still no statewide standard for what qualifies as a recovery residence, no consistent consumer protections for residents, and no objective framework for funding decisions." Nielsen supports adopting standards established by the National Alliance for Recovery Residences, a framework already used successfully in other states, to bring needed consistency and consumer protection to California's recovery residences.
The investigation into Gerber's death continues as authorities and state regulators examine the circumstances within the unregulated world of high-end sober living.
