Ousted University Medical Center CEO Lacy Thomas said Thursday that he did nothing wrong while running the county's public hospital and that allegations against him were made by two disgruntled former employees.
"I categorically deny such accusations, and specifically and unequivocally state that I took all actions in the best interests of UMC," Thomas said in a written statement released through his lawyer, John R. Bailey.
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Clark County Manager Virginia Valentine fired Thomas on Tuesday after outside auditors revealed that the hospital lost $34.3 million in its last fiscal year, $15.5 million more than Thomas reported to county leaders in November.
That same morning, Las Vegas police detectives searched hospital offices and seized boxes of documents and computers as part of an investigation into allegations that Thomas funneled money to friends in Chicago through fraudulent no-work contracts.
Two of Thomas' close associates, Richard Powell and Marlo Hodges, were suspended with pay the next day from their posts as UMC's chief financial and operations officers.
Thomas said he accepted the decision to fire him and would cooperate in the investigation, which he said would show he did nothing wrong.
He said the main allegations of wrongdoing were made by two former employees who alleged "nefarious conduct by me simply because UMC retained outside hospital consultants who are based in Chicago." Thomas said he asked those employees to resign about a year ago because of "activities I believed detrimental to UMC."
Those employees are Blaine Claypool, the hospital's former chief operating officer, and Mike Walsh, the former chief financial officer, according to a police search warrant affidavit.
Claypool and Walsh told police that Thomas awarded consulting contracts to friends in Chicago, often bypassing the usual procedures. They also told police they never saw any completed work products from the contractors.
Claypool told police he resigned in January 2006 because he believed Thomas' actions were unethical and detrimental to UMC. Walsh resigned on the same day, though his reasons were not detailed in the police document.
In his statement, Thomas said he hired the Chicago-based consultants because of their successful track record at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County during Thomas' time as that public hospital's director.
"All of these consultants consistently performed their respective contractual obligations to UMC in the utmost professional manner," Thomas wrote. "To the best of my recollection, each and every contract and professional services agreement that UMC entered into was reviewed and approved in accordance with the county's 'established procedures.'"
One of those consultants was Bennie Jones, president of Risk Management Solutions. Jones said that his company performed the work required in the contract with UMC and that police would find that if they looked.
"I know what we did and what we didn't do," he said.
Another of the companies, Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services, also known as ACS Consulting, said it was cooperating with the investigation and was confident its employees "maintained the company's high standards of ethical conduct."
Not all of the allegations came from Claypool and Walsh. Some people involved in the hospital's $66 million expansion and remodel said Thomas had pressured them to include a construction contractor in the project even though they said the contractor would get "paid for doing basically nothing."
Christopher Roth, UMC's director of planning and construction, told police that Thomas approached him in September 2004 with concerns that the project didn't have any black-owned contracting companies. Thomas then told Roth he wanted Las Vegas-based TBL Construction to be placed in charge of running underground power lines for the project, according to police.
TBL is owned by Al Barber, a black man who also serves as president of the National Association of Minority Contractors.
Roth contacted the contractor overseeing the project, Clark & Sullivan, and had TBL included. Roth called the arrangement a kickback and told police he had never seen such an arrangement in the construction industry.
Sharon Rorman, spokeswoman for TBL Construction, said that nothing improper had occurred and that TBL was invited to participate by Clark & Sullivan. However, she said concerns about a lack of black contractors on the hospital project originated with the Nevada chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors.
Rorman said the contract was for $35,000 and TBL completed the job it was hired to do.
She denied any relationship between Thomas and Barber. Barber "has assured me he is not now, nor has he ever been, a personal friend of Lacy Thomas," Rorman said.
