Waukegan's Green Dragonfly methadone clinic to close

A Waukegan clinic that has been the focus of a death investigation will close voluntarily next month.

The Green Dragonfly methadone clinic at 1738 Washington St. will shut its doors Sept. 8. The clinic's owner refused comment on Wednesday.

Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller said the clinic decided to close rather than have its license revoked.

"They scored poorly on state and federal inspections over this past month," Waller said Wednesday. "Proceedings to revoke their license would have started soon and the owners decided to close the clinic."

Waller said the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Illinois Department of Human Services found problems with the clinic's administrative and medical procedures. IDHS spokesman Tom Green confirmed the inspection results.

The Lake County State's Attorney's office is investigating the death of 30-year-old Steve Vaughn of Lindenhurst after he received two doses of methadone in two separate visits to the clinic.

Lake County Coroner Dr. Richard Keller is the clinic's director, but announced his resignation earlier this month. He'll be leaving Sept. 7.

Keller said he didn't know the clinic was closing until he was contacted by the media.

"The first I heard of it was when a reporter called me," Keller said Wednesday. He said he didn't know any more details and had no further comment.

Vaughn first visited the clinic Dec. 2, when he was given a dose of 40 milligrams of methadone, a drug usually used to fight heroin addiction but one that is also abused as a recreational drug, according to the state's attorney's office.

Vaughn returned to the clinic the next day complaining he had been very ill the night before and had been vomiting. He was given a 70-milligram dose of methadone. Vaughn left the clinic and returned home. His mother found him dead about 3 p.m. that day, according to reports.

The coroner's office determined Vaughn's death was due to the combination of methadone and Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, in his system.

Waller said his investigators are concerned clinic personnel did not do the mandated urine or blood screen of Vaughn before giving him the methadone.