Saturday, Jan. 20, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.
An anonymous letter sent to top county administrators alleging that University Medical Center CEO Lacy Thomas handed out consulting contracts to his Chicago friends was the catalyst that led to the criminal investigation of the publicly funded hospital.
Clark County Audit Director Jerry Carroll said Friday he informed the district attorney's office that something more sinister may have been taking place at UMC - other than fiscal concerns he raised in an audit - after reading the unsigned typewritten letter.
"When I read that letter, I thought there was a possibility of some favoritism with these contracts and that the district attorney ought to be looking at it," Carroll said.
The two-page, undated letter, which is stamped "confidential," lists several of the Chicago-area companies identified in a Metro Police affidavit this week alleging that Thomas was enriching his friends through the hospital contracts at taxpayer expense.
Carroll said he could not recall exactly when the letter was received by county officials, but believes it was in June, as he was wrapping up his audit of a hospital contract that Thomas gave to ACS Consulting Inc., a firm run by a Thomas friend hired to improve UMC's lagging debt collections.
District Attorney David Roger hired private investigator David Groover in October to look into the information that Carroll provided his office. In November Roger formally asked police to launch the criminal probe.
County Manager Virginia Valentine terminated Thomas' contract Tuesday and the next day placed two of his top executives, Richard Powell and Marlo Hodges, on paid administrative leave, as police stepped up their investigation by executing search warrants at UMC.
Thomas issued a statement Thursday strongly denying any wrongdoing, contending that he is the victim of "unfounded and malicious accusations" generated by two former UMC executives he said he asked to resign a year ago.
In last year's anonymous letter - a copy of which was obtained by the Sun - the writer suggests that some of the contracts were handed out without a bidding process and might have been given to fraternity brothers of Thomas'.
Police raised those allegations in this week's sworn affidavit, which was used to win court approval to search and confiscate records at the hospital.
Carroll said that he had been gathering information on some of the Chicago companies by the time that George Stevens, the county's chief financial officer, showed him the letter.
Stevens was among those in the county manager's office raising concerns about the way Thomas conducted the hospital's business.
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