Police investigate possibility of kickbacks

Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007 | 7:01 a.m.

Metro Police have subpoenaed the bank records of ousted University Medical Center Chief Executive Lacy Thomas in an effort to determine whether he profited financially from steering consulting contracts to Chicago-area businesses run by his friends.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger, who is assisting police in the criminal investigation, confirmed Monday that Thomas' records were subpoenaed. He would not identify others whose financial records were subpoenaed.

But the names of two of Thomas' top administrators, along with the Chicago businessmen awarded several UMC contracts, surfaced in a police affidavit last Tuesday that was used to win court approval to search the hospital's executive offices and seize business records.

Roger said the subpoenas were issued to the banks "several weeks" before last week's hospital raid.

In Thomas' case, Roger said, the bank records being sought date back to 2003, covering the time when Thomas was hired to head UMC, a county-subsidized hospital that serves indigent patients.

The subpoenas are the first indication that police want to know whether any of the public funds received by Thomas' Chicago friends were kicked back to the UMC boss, whose contract was terminated by County Manager Virginia Valentine last week.

The 21-page police affidavit, signed by Detective Mike Ford, alleges that Thomas handed out the hospital contracts to enrich his friends, at taxpayers' expense.

Ford wrote that the investigation also is focusing on allegations Thomas "fraudulently misappropriated county property."

Thomas - who left a job as director of John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County in Chicago to take the top post at UMC - has strongly denied any wrongdoing. He has attributed the allegations to two former UMC executives he said he asked to resign last January.

Assistant Sheriff Mike McClary, who is overseeing the police probe of Thomas, would not discuss police efforts to obtain the former hospital chief executive's bank records.

But McClary said police executed another warrant Monday at UMC seeking information on computers not covered in last week's raid. The new warrant was needed, McClary said, after UMC officials discovered that the additional computers might contain information police wanted.