Hartford Business Journal

14 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JULY 27, 2026 Matthew Eacott is shown in this 2017 photo. The Aware Recovery Care co-founder faces felony charges in two separate criminal cases. HBJ File Photo Legal Fallout Co-founder of high-profile CT addiction treatment firm faces manslaughter, drug charges HBJ accessed the podcast on Aware Recovery's website July 10. Several days after the HBJ sought comment from Aware Recovery for this story, the podcast was no longer available. The allegations Eacott's recent legal troubles began in April 2025, months after U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Oct. 27, 2024, intercepted a package mailed from Montreal to his Burl- ington home, according to an arrest warrant application and affidavit signed by a Connecticut state police detective and filed in court. Subse- quent laboratory testing found the package contained 69.6 grams of carfentanil, according to the affidavit. Carfentanil is a potent synthetic opioid — about 100 times more powerful than fentanyl — that can be lethal in very small amounts and is primarily used to sedate large animals, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. After the package was delivered to Eacott's home on April 1, 2025, state police executed a search warrant and discovered the fentanyl, Xanax pills and heroin, according to the affidavit. Eacott was charged with four felonies, including possession of narcotics with intent to sell and risk of injury to a child after police alleged fentanyl was found stuffed between couch cushions in a basement that his two young children could have easily accessed. The arrest also prompted state police to revisit the 2022 overdose death of 37-year-old Curtis Alvord IV, ultimately leading to the first-degree manslaughter and tampering with evidence charges. As part of the renewed investiga- tion, state police interviewed Alvord's sister, Kaitlin, and two of his friends about the events leading up to the overdose, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. Their statements form the basis of investigators' account of what happened over the course of Oct. 29 and 30, 2022. According to witness statements, Alvord spent Oct. 29, 2022, drinking at a UConn football game in East Hartford before attending Collins- ville's annual Halloween parade. Kaitlin Alvord later told investigators that a friend told her Curtis had gone to Eacott's home because Eacott had "some new cocaine." The next morning, Eacott's wife, Courtney Gold, texted Kaitlin Alvord around 8:40 a.m. that her brother was "a mess," according to the affidavit. Kaitlin Alvord told investi- gators she arrived to find her brother unresponsive on a couch. According to her sworn statement, Eacott carried Curtis to a shower, said he had already administered a dose of naloxone, an opioid overdose-reversal medication, and sent her to a local pharmacy to obtain another dose. When the second dose had no effect, Kaitlin Alvord told investiga- tors that she and Eacott dragged Curtis downstairs and placed him in her car. She then drove him to UConn Health's John Dempsey Hospital, where he died two days later after being taken off life support. By Andrew Larson alarson@hartfordbusiness.com F or years, Matthew Eacott was one of the most recognizable faces of Aware Recovery Care, the Connecticut addiction treatment company that built a national presence around its in-home recovery model. A former heroin addict who was one of the company's first patients, Eacott later became a co-founder and executive, frequently sharing his recovery story as Aware expanded nationwide. Now, Eacott, 45, is facing felony charges in two separate criminal cases. The company's co-founder was arraigned July 2 in Torrington Supe- rior Court on charges of first-degree manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the 2022 drug overdose death of a man who was found unresponsive at his Burlington home. He also faces separate felony drug charges in New Britain, including possession of narcotics with intent to sell. Through his attorneys, Eacott main- tains he is innocent of all charges. Founded in 2011, Aware Recovery Care built a company around providing addiction treatment in patients' homes rather than tradi- tional residential facilities. Over the years, the company has secured contracts and partnerships with major insurers and healthcare providers, attracted outside invest- ment, expanded into 11 states and employed hundreds of workers, according to its website. Connecticut Innovations, the state's quasi-public venture investment arm, invested $2 million in the company. Aware Recovery Care, which lists its corporate office in Middletown, did not respond to repeated questions from the Hartford Business Journal about Eacott's current relationship with the company, including whether he has an ownership stake, serves on its board or has any operational role. From patient to executive Eacott's personal story had long been intertwined with Aware Recovery Care's growth. After years of opioid and heroin addiction, more than a dozen stays in residential treatment and a seven- month prison sentence, he entered Aware's pilot program as one of its first five clients, according to a 2017 HBJ profile of the company and Eacott. Aware's founder Stephen Randazzo was part of his care team and later hired him as a certified recovery adviser. Eacott was offered the opportunity to invest in Aware Recovery Care in 2013, according to the HBJ story, later becoming a co-founder and serving in various leadership roles with the company. An archived staff biography page identified Eacott as a co-founder and "special advisor" to former CEO Brian Holzer, who led the company from April 2022 to May 2025. In an October 2023 episode of the company's "Well Aware" podcast, Holzer introduced Eacott as a board member and said he previously served as a "COO" and chief innovation officer. Holzer also described Eacott as "the heartbeat of the company." Eacott told listeners that he had been sober for 11 years, after a psychiatrist had given him a 2% chance of success. His message to prospective clients: "If it can work for me, it can work for anyone." The interview aired about a year after the death at the center of the manslaughter charge, and about a year and a half before state police said they found 421.4 grams of fentanyl, 205 Xanax pills and 9.6 grams of heroin in Eacott's home, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

• Cover