Hearing held on Roberto Santos’s request to reinstate alcohol-and-drug counselor license; Department opposes

A Department of Public Health hearing officer heard testimony on a petition by Roberto Santos to reinstate his licensed alcohol and drug counselor license and said a written decision will be issued within 90 days.

The department told the hearing it does not support reinstatement, pointing to a memorandum of decision that revoked Santos’s license on Oct. 11, 2024, after finding he engaged in sexualized contact and boundary violations with a client. Attorney Fazena, representing the Department of Public Health, said: "the department does not support reinstatement" and summarized findings in department exhibit 1, including that Santos "engaged in [sexual] contact and activities" and exchanged extensive text messages and images with a vulnerable, judicially referred client.

Santos acknowledged the underlying conduct and said he is remorseful and has sought mental-health treatment and employer-required training since losing his license. "I'm willing to offer whatever you guys need me to do so that I can get this reinstated," Santos said. He also told the hearing he has worked for Community Solutions Inc. since January 2025 without incident and that he has been seeing a psychiatrist and therapist.

The department objected to giving weight to many of the trainings in Santos’s packet, saying much of the training was employer-required and therefore not a remedial, independent record of competency. The hearing officer admitted the parties’ exhibits — respondent’s packet (entered as respondents exhibit A, a 70-page packet), plus department exhibits 1 (the memorandum of decision) and 2 (a legible resume) — while noting a typographical error in one submission that labeled a document "licensed clinical social worker" rather than "licensed alcohol and drug counselor." The hearing officer said: "I will admit the exhibits as full exhibits with the caveat that there's a typographical error on that one exhibit."

Attorney Fazena pressed Santos on inaccuracies and omissions in his reinstatement application, including that Santos did not disclose a separate revocation of his certification by the Connecticut Certification Board and that parts of his application and supporting statement contained inaccurate timing about when contact with the client occurred. The memorandum of decision cited by the department found the contact occurred approximately March 20, 2024, through May 18, 2024, during Santos’s employment at Connecticut Renaissance; Santos acknowledged the underlying decision and said he accepted accountability.

Santos described employment since the revocation, including a short October–November 2024 position at Wellmore Behavioral Health Clinic that ended after a background check, and a brief May–July 2024 stint at Connecticut Valley Hospital that ended after his license was suspended. He said many of the certificates in respondents exhibit A were required training through his employer, Community Solutions Inc., and some were provided by third parties such as court support services.

The hearing officer closed the record and announced that a written decision would follow within 90 days. No final determination was made at the hearing.

Ending: The hearing officer said only that a written decision would be issued within 90 days; until that decision is issued there is no change to Santos’s licensure status recorded in the hearing.