The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 20

Sunday, June 15, 1997 A20 THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER 3 families in anguish Companies get Cooper tied to board members Hospital's business For The Inquirer BARBARA JOHNSTON Gail Willard checks a memorial where her daughter Aimee's car was found on the Blue Route a year ago. The case remains unsolved. CONTRACTS from A1 raising arm had a major interest in two businesses that were paid $6.1 million by the hospital from 1993 through 1996 for collecting money to pay for medical services. Also, Weinroth's wife is employed as a billing specialist in the hospital's department of pediatrics. Her salary was unavailable.

Cooper officials and Weinroth have said in interviews that the contracts were proper. Weinroth said his businesses did the work for which they were paid. He said he always recuses himself "even from any conversations" regarding his businesses. The Camden hospital, which is formally known as Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center, paid various board members or their businesses for legal work, bill collections, banking, architectural and other services. Some board members work in salaried positions at the hospital; others have relatives employed by the institution, according to the tax returns.

It is not uncommon or illegal for board members at teaching hospitals to do business with their own hospitals, or their relatives or companies to do so. The Cooper board met on June 2 and discussed the financial ties of board members to the hospital. In interviews, two current and two for mer board members said they were troubled by the issues raised in the board's dealings. Hospital oificials said the board mem for Cooper. According to hospital records, Cooper Hospital paid C-Care $1,170,703 in 1994; $531,858 for 1995; $456,080 for 1996.

C-Care has employed as many 16 people, Weinroth said, most of them retired police officers. He said he believed the C-Care contracts with the hospital were not put out for public bid. Few companies do the type of work that C-Care does, he said, and his firm received the contract after presenting a proposal to the hospital. He said he began C-Care with five clients other than Cooper. Weinroth said he sold C-Care last year.

He still works for the company under an employment contract. Weinroth also said his law firm collects unpaid hospital bills. In 1993, Cooper Hospital paid the firm $1,175,355 for billing collection services; in 1994, in 1995, and in 1996, $591,500. Weinroth's law firm began providing services for the hospital in the mid-1970s. Weinroth joined the hospital foundation board in 1992, and joined the board of trustees in 1995.

Cooper president Halpern has said Cooper contracts out bill collection work so that it can compare the success rate of different services. According to the income-tax reports, Archer Greiner, the law firm in which board chairman Dris-coll is a partner, received these fees from Cooper Hospital: $584,395 in 1993; $803,071 in 1995; and $742,015 in 1996. According to the income tax reports and information supplied by the hospital, "members of the law firm, other than Mr. Dris-coll, provide legal services to Cooper Hospital." According to Cooper Hospital officials, Archer Greiner has been doing the hospi tal's legal work for more than 40 years. Driscoll has been chairman of the hospital board since 1986.

Cooper's records show that Cooper president Halpern serves on the board of directors for Core-SlatesNJ National Bank. The records also show that Thomas Bracken, a market president of CoreStatesNJ National Bank, is a board member at Cooper Hospital. CoreStatesNJ National Bank provided banking services for Cooper in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996. Halpern was paid $417,718 in 1995 as a salary from Cooper, and is currently paid a fee of $15,000 a year and $500 per meeting by CoreStates to serve on CoreStates board, according to a spokeswoman for the bank. Halpern declined requests for an Before Cooper's returns not required disclosures business FAMILIES from A1 families.

The Faheys and the Wil-lards, in fact, have reached out to each other. "We became members of a club we never wanted to join," Paul Willard said. Aimee Willard's life was filled with love from her family, laughs with her friends, and accolades for her athletic prowess. Her death has produced theories, suspects and lies. She lived to be 22 years old.

The mystery lies in how she spent her last 22 minutes. On June 20, 1996, she left a Main Line bar at 1:40 in the morning. At 2:02, her car was reported abandoned on the off-ramp of Exit 3 of the southbound Blue Route. Sometime in between, she was stopped and abducted. Within a day, a young man from Bryn Mawr had jumped to the head of the list of suspects.

Andrew Ko-bak aroused suspicion, police say, when he appeared at the Exit 3 off-ramp about 10 hours after Aimee's car was found there. He said he had been in the area about 1 a.m. Police contend he never credibly explained why he was there at that lime or where he was an hour later. Kobak is still waiting to be official-, ly cleared. Police are unwilling to clear him which irks his attorney.

"There was no physical evidence found in his home after a nine-hour search, no physical evidence found in his cars; the UNA was negative," said Kobak's lawyer, Anthony Pe-; trone. "One can safely conclude that he had absolutely nothing to do with this crime. "Yet law enforcement still refuses to publicly clear him knowing full well it's impossible to unring this bell of suspicion once it's sounded." Former State Trooper H. Ryan Hutchinson is also hoping to clear his name. He was dismissed from the force after telling colleagues 1 he saw Willard's blue Honda Civic parked in front of a police car about 10 minutes before 2 a.m.

on the night she died. Investigators who traced his steps said he couldn't have been there at that time and charged him with ly-, ing. He is fighting the dismissal and is scheduled for trial next month. Then there is a claim by veteran Upper Providence Police Officer David Buggy that he, too, came across Willard's empty car and that he talked to the emergency crew at the scene. Investigators decided he, too, was lying.

He resigned. In the last 10 days, news reports have linked Aimee Willard's name with a Warrington man on parole from a 1979 Nevada murder conviction. Arthur Bomar was arrested June 5 and I Aimee it Trinity nil Anne Cooper paid board members or their companies for legal work, bill collections, banking and other services. I Willard the hospital or relatives or businesses that do. In addition to Driscoll, Weinroth, Halpern and Bracken, the hospital also lists: Joseph Tarquini of Tarquini Associates, an architectural firm that provided architectural services to Cooper for the years 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996, according to the forms.

Tarquini did not return several calls requesting an interview. Edward D. Viner, a full-time physician at Cooper. His daughter also is an employee, according to the tax returns. In a statement released through his office, Viner said his daughter works part-time doing secretarial work for Cooper.

Michael Cresci, a trustee of H.A. Dellart, a trucking company in Thorofare that provided services to Cooper. Cresci did not respond to requests for an interview. Jeannine LaRue, whose niece is employed in Cooper's Human Resources Department. LaRue said in an interview that her niece works at the hospital part-time.

Mark Pello, medical staff president at Cooper. His wife is a part-time employee in the department of surgery. In an interview, Pello said the information supplied by Cooper was correct, and he declined to comment further. Barbara Schraeder, whose husband is a full-time employee of Cooper. Schraeder's term on the board expired in March 1996.

In a statement, she said the information supplied by Cooper was correct, and she declined further comment. Patrick Abiuso, a full-time physician at Cooper. His wife is a part-time employee in the Department of Medicine. In an interview, Abiuso said that the medical staff of the hospital voted him as the medical representative to serve on the board in 1993, when he was in private practice. After that, he said, he and his wife were hired as employees.

Miller Biddle, a full-time physician at Cooper. His term expired in March 1996. His wife is the hospital's assistant vice president of marketing. The Biddies did not return phone calls requesting interviews. Dr.

Steven Levine, a former partner in a company that owned an office building that Cooper Hospital purchased. In an interview, Levine said he also receives a salary for performing part-time medical services for the hospital. His term on the board expired in September 1996. Carolyn Brann, president of the Women's Board, which runs three small retail businesses whose funds go to Cooper. Brann's husband is an employee of Johnson Johnson, which sells pharmaceuticals and medical products to Cooper.

In an interview, Brann said that neither she nor her husband had made any money as a result of her role on the board. She said she worked for the hospital as a volunteer. Joan Davis, chairperson of CamCare, an entity related to Cooper Hospital that provides health services to Camden residents, with fees on a sliding-scale basis. She did not return phone requests for an interview. Dr.

Harold Paz, dean of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New JerseyRobert Wood Johnson Medical School which has an institutional affiliation with Cooper. Gary Lamson, vice president of mental health services of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and acting president and CEO of University Healthcare Corp. In a statement released by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Stuart Goldstein said that Cooper Hospital bylaws require that two board members come from UMDNJ. Paz and Lamson are those designees, the statement said. They are not paid for serving on the board.

torney's Office in Camden. Chuck Davis, spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said state investigators are reviewing the audit to decide if a criminal investigation is warranted. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Zoubek said he could not say whether there is a pending federal investigation into Cooper's financial dealings. In an interview, board member George Weinroth said his business records were subpoenaed from the hospital by the federal government several years ago.

He has not been interviewed by investigators, he said. Cooper Hospital officials, including CEO and president Kevin Halpern, have said that to their knowledge the federal investigation into the hospital is no longer active. Maureen Graham Miller bers' businesses provided services needed by the hospital and the charges were fair. The Internal Revenue Service requires that a nonprofit hospital disclose in its tax returns each year the names of board members who have busi ness affiliations with the hospital. Before 1994, Cooper did not make such disclosures in its tax returns.

Kevin Halpern, president and CEO of Cooper Hospital, has said the information had been left off in error, and he blamed the hospital's former accountants for the mistake. Since 1994, the hospital has provided the information to the IRS. Cooper officials also supplied lists concerning board members' business affiliations for 1993 and 1996 to The Inquirer, although Cooper's 1996 tax returns have not yet been filed. Hospital officials have not provided a total dollar figure for the amount of money paid to the businesses of its board members or their relatives. Under law, the hospital need only reveal how much was paid to its five highest-paid contractors for professional services.

The Archer Greiner law firm was put in that category in 1993 and 1995. Weinroth's law firm Greenberg, Schmerelson Weinroth was among the top five for all three years. Another company in which Weinroth was a part-owner and CEO, C-Care, was listed in 1994 and 1995. In an interview, hospital board member Weinrolh described his conlract work with Cooper. "1 am an entrepreneur," he said, describing how he formed C-Care.

lie said that in the early 1990s New Jersey was revising its reporting requirements for hospitals providing charity care to the working poor. Under New Jersey's charity care laws, people otherwise ineligible for Medicaid could receive some medical benefits from the state if they met certain criteria. Weinroth, with seven others, saw an opportunity for a new business, he said. C-Care, located in the 500 block of Cooper Street in Camden, was designed to identify those patients and fill out the paperwork necessary to obtain state reimbursement to the hospital for their care. Weinroth said C-Care was paid between 3.5 and 8.5 percent of what it collected 1994, tax did include on affiliations.

man, father of murder victim Ron Goldman, in the O.J. Simpson case. The Faheys try to answer requests for interviews, "but I worry privately," Brian Fahey said. "1 don't want people to think this has been fun for us." One reason they cooperate, he said, is the belief that there are people in the community who could be helping investigators but aren't. He thinks the investigators have done a good job, despite not having a body, a weapon or a witness.

They say they do have a suspect: Thomas Capano, 47, Anne Marie's secret lover who, investigators believe, was the last to see her alive. Through his lawyer, Capano has denied any role in Anne Marie's disappearance. That same lawyer predicts Capano will one day be charged. Capano's life, too, has been turned upside down, the lawyer, Charles Oberly, says. An attorney who was once among the political movers and shakers in Delaware, Capano, according to Oberly, has become a caricature of a man, a pariah in self-imposed exile.

He quit his job in the Wilmington office of a big Philadelphia law firm. "He's not the person someone wants at their fund-raiser," Oberly said. Capano and Anne Marie Fahey dined on June 27 at a Philadelphia restaurant. Capano says he took her home. According to an FBI agent's court affidavit, authorities believe he killed her in his house and disposed of the body.

Oberly says that blood found on a wall in Capano's house matched Fa-hey's but that the amount could have come from a tiny cut. "People have this picture that it was buckets of blood," the lawyer said. "We're talking about a trace." He added that even if Capano is never charged, there will be people who will believe that he got away with it. "Will he ever be able to restore a semblance of his former life in this area?" Oberly asked. "1 don't know." The details brought out so far have been overblown and onesided, the lawyer said.

Still, he expects Capano to be charged because of "public pressure" on the case. That would be a double-edged sword for Brian Fahey, who fears what the family would have to endure in a trial. Plus, after that, "then she'll really be gone for good," he said. Last fall, Anne Marie's brothers and sister moved her things from her apartment. They held a Mass on Jan.

27, the day she would have turned 31. On June 27, the day they think she died, they will probably hold a small dinner, just for family, and a private Mass. They will pray for a young woman who simply vanished. There has been communication between the Willard family and the Faheys, said Sister Nancy, who taught Anne Marie Fahey's sister-in-law, Susan, at Academy of Notre Dame de Namur in Villanova. Sister Nancy said she has talked to Susan and her husband, Robert, Anne Marie's brother, about the loss of the two young women.

The Faheys, she said, sent roses for Aimee's birthday Mass last Sun day. "There's a bond of understanding there, Sister Nancy said. Gail Willard believes the Faheys are suffering more, because Anne Marie has not been found. "Their pain is so much worse than our pain, because I saw her," said Gail Willard, who, with her husband, identified their daughter's body last June 20. "Aimee grew inside of me for nine months," she said.

"Aimee belonged to me, and somebody took something of mine and took it without my permission. The violation is just so slrong." At least now, she said, Aimee is at peace. "It's we who are suffering, not Aimee," Sister Nancy said. "She's at peace in the Kingdom." A Memorial Mass A Mass (or Aimee Willard will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Our Lady of Charity Church, 231 Upland Rd Brookhaven.

a fight. Police obtained blood and hair samples from him, but they say they are not ready to charge him. "We're continuing to pursue the leads that we developed initially," Bristol Lt. Joseph Fehn said last week. Trinity Miller's family has not talked publicly about her death.

People in the community, meanwhile, remain upset, said Pastor James Evans of the Norton Avenue First Baptist Church, in the Millers' neighborhood. "They're disappointed and angry over the fact that it never received much media attention and was swept under the rug," Mr. Evans said Friday. "They're anxious, because you have to feel there's a killer in the community." Mr. Evans said the case had faded from view, in part, because the victim was, in the minis ter's words, "just another one of those who are downtrodden." Gail Willard wears her daughter's George Mason University ring and a blue-and-white, beaded baby bracelet with her name.

"She was such a sweet, gentle person," she said. "She didn't deserve to have a hair on her head harmed. "It rocks your whole family system: If you are teaching them everything right, nothing bad will happen." The last year has convinced her that changes are needed in the criminal justice system, changes such as New Jersey's new law making sex offenders who kill children ineligible for parole. Paul Willard said he was convinced the police were doing a thorough job. "Police are parents, too," he said.

"They want this case solved as much as anybody maybe even more so." A year after Aimee's death, her family feels a closeness to her. Her tar Fahey mother speaks of talking with her; so do friends. It is a source of comfort, they say. "I talk to her every single day," said Gail Willard, who smiles and laughs about the things about Aimee that brought joy. The other day, someone said to me, 'I'm going to ask Aimee about and I told them, 'If it's before 11, she's not up Now, she says, she prays for help from the one person who knew who the killer was: her daughter.

"Send a sign or something," she has prayed to Aimee, because this is really starting to wear on my nerves." The family's deep faith and belief in the hereafter has helped them cope. Gail Willard and her sister, Nancy Bonshock, picture Aimee reunited with their father, Anthony Bonshock, who died in 1986. "That shy Aimee," Nancy said, is "greeting these friends and enjoying 'Pop-Pop' again." When Brian Fahey goes to the store, he has to put up with hearing his sister's dealh discussed by strangers. He overhears remarks at the gas station, the bank, baseball games. "They say some horrible things," he said.

"1 wish we did less of that. It's just not decent to gossip." He never stops dealing with the loss of Anne Marie, a scheduling secretary for Delaware Gov. Thomas Carper. She was 30 when she disappeared on June 27. "It's always there," he said.

"It's part of your consciousness." Just the phone calls from friends, from TV shows and movie producers take time and energy. One of the things that haunts him is this: "Anne died afraid." He is bothered, too, because she was such a private person and, now, her life is public fodder. The family has had to decide where the line is for them and how to walk it. They cringe at the high-profile stance taken by Fred Gold- In an interview. Bracken said CoreStates had served Cooper since well before he became a board member.

In addition, he said, he recuses himself from any board discussions of banking business at both the hospital and at the bank. George E. Norcross 3d, former chairman of the Camden County Democratic Party and chief executive officer of Keystone National Insurance Co. serves on the Cooper Hospital board of directors. In 1993, 1994 and 1995, his business was paid by Cooper for providing insurance-brokerage services to the hospital during those three years.

In an interview, Norcross said he received only a "minimal" amount of money. He would not say how much he earned in commissions or fees from the hospital. Norcross, who is still a board member, did no business with the hospital in 1996. Of the 27 Cooper board members in 1996, 17 were listed by Cooper as having business affiliations with closed, monitored and reported. Systems in place guarantee and assure the community that no board member is afforded any special advantages to benefit favorably from his her position on the Cooper Board." In 1994, two former top Cooper officials pleaded guilty to embezzling $3.8 million from Cooper.

Former Cooper executive vice president John M. Sullivan and former controller P. John Lashkevich admitted stealing the money from the hospital between 1987 and 1993. Sullivan was sentenced to 55 months in federal prison, and Lashkevich to 25 months. Cooper has since said in court filings that it has lost at least $13 million to fraud since 1987.

Copies of the audit report have been given to the New Jersey Attorney (ieneral's Office and the U.S. At New system: Competitive bidding Marie charged with trying to burglarize an Ardmore woman's house. He was driving a car whose owner, Maria Cabuenos of Philadelphia, has been missing since March. Investigators in the Willard case have wanted to question Bomar. His lawyer, Steve Heckman, said Bomar "absolutely denies responsibility" for Willard's death and Maria Cabuenos' disappearance.

State Police Capt. Thomas Lacrosse, who is heading the Willard investigation, has numerous officers rotating in and out of the case. "We're still following up viable leads," he said. "The well's not dry." But he knows that with each day, the water gets a little lower. "I know it begins to sound disingenuous, coming up on 12 months, but we still hold out optimism that we'll make an arrest." On June 16, four days before Aimee Willard died, Trinity Miller was found bludgeoned to dealh in Bristol Township, her shorts and underwear missing.

She was 19, slightly built, known for enjoying lale-night walks. Mentally challenged, Trinity had been enrolled in a life-skills class designed for special-education students at Truman High School until she transferred to a program at Bucks County Technical School. Officials from Bucks and Delaware Counties talked to each other about the Miller and Willard mur-, ders but found no link. As in the Willard case, police in- vestigating Miller's death honed in quickly on a suspect, a 22-year-old man whom witnesses placed near the scene and who was treated for a bite wound on his hand two hours before the body was found. According to court papers, the suspect asked friends to lie to police about his injuries and give him an alibi.

In addition, documents say, a neighbor said she washed the sus- pect's bloodstained clothing on June 18 after he said he Jad been in Until this year, Cooper Hospital had no requirement for competitive bidding on any contracts, according to hospital officials. Cooper began a bidding process in January. It was then that Cooper received the findings of an in-depth hospital-commissioned audit that prompted the hospital to list $21.8 million under the heading of "event of fraud" in a publicly issued bond prospectus. The audit report has not been made public by Cooper Hospital. After receiving the audit, the hospital began requiring bids on all contracts in excess of $25,000, according to hospital spokeswoman Peggy Leone.

Reflecting that and other policy changes this year, Cooper has issued this statement: "All related party transactions among the Cooper Health Systems Board of Trustees are fully dis.