Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com

An Oakland County woman has been sentenced in connection with the theft of medical credentials that led to the improper treatment of autistic children at the Oxford Center in Brighton.

38-year-old Casey Coden-Diskin of Huntington Woods, who goes by the name “Coden”, was sentenced Tuesday to 4.5-to-7 years in prison by Judge Suzanne Geddis.

Coden is a convicted identity thief who posed as a certified behavioral therapist and worked with severely autistic children - some of them nonverbal - and stole another person's medical credentials in order to work at the center. Parents later reported a dramatic regression in their child’s development as a result of her interaction with them.

Coden’s stolen identity was discovered in 2021 and she was charged with identity theft and fraud. She was sentenced Tuesday in 44th Circuit Court in Howell to impersonating a health care professional and witness intimidation. Coden was sentenced to 4-6 years for unauthorized practice of a health profession, 3.5-5 years on two counts of identity theft and 4-6 years on one count of bribing and intimidating a witness.

Coden was employed as a director of services at the Oxford Recovery Center, which has facilities in Brighton and Troy, and which provides services to children diagnosed with autism. According to a press release by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, “She presented herself as a board-certified behavioral analyst when she was not licensed by the state of Michigan and did not possess the requisite educational background.

Coden was employed at the Oxford Recovery Center from 2018-2021. According to the release, "Coden also intimidated a witness (in regard to the) matter via text messages in an effort to prevent the witness from testifying against her."

Nessel said further, “Falsifying credentials to gain access to a highly vulnerable population is unethical and reprehensible. I hope that this sentence serves as a warning for others that we take the proper training, qualifications, and licensing requirements very seriously and there are real consequences for those who deliberately shirk them.”

Since the report came out, the center has changed its name, removing the word “recovery” and calling itself the “Oxford Center”, while striking any sign of Coden’s past work there on its social media and web page.