May 3–10, 2001

news

Another Conundrum

A lawyer connected to the Kimberly Ernest murder case has apparently disappeared.

by Howard Altman

Have you seen this man? Police, lawyers and family want to know the whereabouts of Fred Ambrose.

The strange saga of Kimberly Ernest, the 26-year-old paralegal who became famous in death as the Center City Jogger, has taken yet another bizarre twist.

Attorney Fred Ambrose, who tried to blame Ernest’s Nov. 2, 1995 murder on the son of a prominent lawyer, has apparently disappeared. As reported in 1999 in a two-part City Paper series ("The Kimberly Conundrum"), Ambrose targeted the lawyer’s son as part of an effort to seek a $75 million civil judgment against the city on behalf of one of the two men acquitted of killing Ernest.

"There is a missing person’s report filed by Fred’s wife, Mary," says Sam Malat, the South Jersey attorney who is representing the second man acquitted in the 1995 Ernest murder. "His rental car was found at the Wilmington, DE, Amtrak station last week. I am concerned for the man. It is not like the Fred I know to just disappear."

Maybe not, but police sources — and even Malat — suggest that the timing of Ambrose’s absence is more than happenstance.

In his efforts to win the civil case, Ambrose went to great lengths to convince anyone who’d listen that there was a major conspiracy involving Ed Rendell, the District Attorney’s Office, the police and the mob to frame his client, Herbie Haak, and Richie Wise, the two men found not guilty of killing Ernest.

Ambrose’s efforts included blaming John Lambert, son of attorney Jay Lambert. In January 1999, days after the City Paper cover story about the contretemps surrounding the Ernest slaying, Jay Lambert sued Ambrose for defamation.

Just weeks ago, Stephen Stouffer, who had been working for Ambrose as a private investigator, testified during a deposition for Jay Lambert’s suit that Ambrose made up evidence, lied in court documents, knowingly spread false information to the press and attempted to coerce a witness against Haak in a recent check fraud case unrelated to the Ernest murder.

On Thursday, May 3, Ambrose is scheduled to appear in Common Pleas Court to represent Haak, who is being sentenced in that check fraud case. Five days later, Ambrose is scheduled to give his court-ordered deposition in the Lambert suit.

The combination of events leaves police sources and those who know Ambrose scratching their heads in bewilderment.

"This thing is so fucking bizarre," says Malat. "I hope he is alive, but I have my doubts."

Malat says he bases his doubts about Ambrose being alive on what he found in Ambrose’s office.

"I was there with his wife and secretary," says Malat. "There were things in his office that I can’t find that I would have anticipated being there. All his photos of his wife and kids and grandkids are missing. His cigars are missing and they were good ones, too."

Also missing, says Malat, are some of Ambrose’s files pertaining to Haak and Wise’s civil suit as well as the Lambert civil suits (attorney Jay also filed suits on behalf of his wife Barbara and his son John, who later died of a drug overdose).

Efforts to confirm Malat’s statement that Ambrose is missing have been unsuccessful. The West Chester, Lower Merion and Tredyffrin police departments had no report of Ambrose missing. Philadelphia police failed to respond to City Paper’s inquiry. Amtrak police also refused to confirm or deny information about Ambrose’s rental car being found in Delaware.

Regardless, Malat says that Ambrose’s wife Mary has been frantic since Ambrose left his Chester County home on April 23. Mary Ambrose refused comment, referring calls to Malat.

"She is a wreck," says Malat. "She has no idea where he might be. I field calls from her every day."

Jack McMahon, who defended Haak during the criminal trial, agrees with Malat’s depiction of Ambrose’s disappearance.

"This is really bizarre," says McMahon. "I told [Ambrose and Malat] years ago how to go about this, but they wouldn’t listen."

Perhaps they should have.

In depositions taken for the Lambert suit, private investigators Albert Tyree and Stephen Stouffer level some highly damning charges against Ambrose and, to a lesser extent, Malat.

During his Nov. 10, 2000 deposition, Tyree, who also went by the names Skip Thomas and Tyree Thomas, testified that despite a federal judge’s order to produce material witness Billy Liberatore, Ambrose hid Liberatore in a New York State drug rehab center and then lied to U.S. District Court Judge Robert Gawthrop III.

Tyree also testified that Ambrose devised a number of plans to obtain blood from John Lambert, whom Ambrose was accusing of being the real killer of Kimberly Ernest.

Among other methods, Ambrose considered having one of the private investigators infiltrate the drug rehab center where Lambert was staying and initiate a fight, either punching or stabbing Lambert to draw blood. Tyree also stated that Ambrose raised the possibility of shooting John Lambert with a bow and arrow.

And then there was the stun gun.

"Did any of you people ever consider that you could have seriously injured yourself out there with that bow and arrow and that stun gun?" Jay Lambert asked Tyree.

"We actually tested the stun gun on Mr. Stouffer," Tyree answered.

"I was afraid of that," Lambert said. "What was the reaction of testing the stun gun on Mr. Stouffer?

"It worked," Tyree answered.

"It worked," Lambert said. "It stunned him. You could actually tell a difference in Mr. Stouffer’s case, he appeared stunned?"

"He was more stunned than usual, yes," Tyree answered.

Tyree also testified that Ambrose told the media, including City Paper, that there was a "vast conspiracy" to frame Haak and Wise, though Ambrose claims never to have made any such statements.

Eventually, Tyree testified, his work for Ambrose began to weigh on his conscience, which he stated in a letter to Ambrose.

"I went above and beyond the call of duty on more than a few occasions," Tyree wrote. "Fred, I put my life, as well as my reputation with certain people on the line for you and your family. I even went as far as carrying out unethical tasks for you and crazy Steve."

As damning as Tyree’s deposition appears, Stouffer’s is even more incriminating. In a deposition taken on April 2 in Florida, Stouffer stated that "I found — well, through the case I observed that I thought that Mr. Ambrose and Mr. Malat were doing things that were illegal, unethical and immoral as lawyers…"

Stouffer stated that he was upset with Ambrose for "trying to defame, I believe, the Lambert family…"

Among other things, Stouffer corroborated Tyree’s statements that Ambrose devised plots to obtain blood from John Lambert ("…and he hit me with the [stun gun]. I dropped to the floor. I couldn’t even move. [Tyree] thought it was funny. I kind of thought it was a sick, sick joke for Fred to do. He laughed. He said, ‘This would be a good thing to use on John.’")

Stouffer also backed up Tyree’s statement that Ambrose hid a material witness from the city and a federal judge and that Malat was aware of that.

(Malat has refused comment on any statements made by either Tyree or Stouffer until City Paper provides him with a copy of the entire 430-plus pages of the Tyree/Stouffer transcripts.) Stouffer also stated that Ambrose obtained credit reports of Jay Lambert, prosecutor Judy Rubino, several police detectives and others in an effort to find any information that they could use against those individuals.

Perhaps the most damaging information provided by either PI was an audiotape, turned over by Stouffer, of Ambrose ordering Stouffer to intimidate a witness against Haak.

"Steve, it’s Fred. We need something done here. On Dec. 6, I have a preliminary hearing coming up on that check fraud case. It’s a frame-up job, there’s no doubt about it. The cops enlisted the aid of the person who owns the computer store that Herb bought the computer equipment from to set this thing up. I got that from a very reliable source. What I need right now, I don’t want the city jamming him up with this. So I want you to relay a message to our mutual friend to persuade the complaining witness, the owner of the computer store, not to show up, not to testify in this whole thing, and to withdraw the complaint, but the very least not to show up for the hearing…"

Stouffer also stated that Ambrose ordered him to distribute a Daily News photo of a mob funeral to media outlets and say that the picture showed Philadelphia Police Detective Thomas Augustine serving as pallbearer for mobster Anthony Turra. Stouffer said that Ambrose ordered him to distribute the picture — over his objections — to depict Augustine as a mobbed-up cop. (City Paper confirmed with the funeral home that the man in the photo was not Augustine.)

Though Stouffer told reporters (including me) that this was a picture of Augustine, he testified in his deposition that he knew otherwise.

"That was Fred’s opinion, not mine," Stouffer said.

Sheryl Rentz, the attorney representing Tyree and Stouffer, says she considers the PI’s statements "damaging to Ambrose."

"It laid out all the plans and actions that he controlled and tried to maneuver to get evidence on John Lambert that I don’t believe were totally lawful, ethical nor moral."

Malat won’t comment on the content of the depositions, but he does say that there may be a connection between that and Ambrose’s disappearance.

Then again, maybe there isn’t.

"The one thing that I have learned about this case is that I know so little it is pathetic," Malat says.

Still, he’s learned enough to contact both the California State Supreme Court and the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court to let them know that Ambrose is missing and thus no longer practicing law.

And one more thing.

On Monday, Ambrose’s law office telephone was disconnected. Callers are routed to Malat’s office.

"He left me a letter asking me to wrap up his practice," says Malat, adding that he has "zero idea" where Ambrose might be. "The conundrum continues."