December 12–19, 1996

pretzel logic

La Cucaracha

Not even the law can squash Carmen the Cockroach.

By Howard Altman

Should the nuclear powers finally go nuts and exchange missiles, there will be only two life forms left on the planet.

One is the cockroach.

The other is Carmen Bolden.

And she would no doubt convince the surviving cockroaches that they needed costly therapy to deal with the post-apocalyptic stress.

Consider the Bolden legacy.

She has been convicted twice of ripping off Latino service organizations that she created. Last week, she was arrested for alleged Medicaid fraud in connection with a third organization she created.

Despite her shady past, however, she is still in the business of taking in state money under the pretext of providing needed mental health services to the Latino community. Sources who testified at the grand jury which indicted Bolden, and sources close to the investigation, say the state is looking into why Bolden was able to open up a fourth mental health agency, the New Life Center on North Fifth Street, which ostensibly provides drug and alcohol treatment to the Latino community.

There is no way Bolden should have anything to do with New Life, or any other outfit taking in public money. When she was running the Centro Ayuda clinic on North Broad, Bolden used her husband James, a carpenter by trade, as the front man to obtain a state mental health license. This time, sources say, Bolden is using another front man, Carlos Morales, to hide her involvement.

But investigators are well aware of the fact that, once again, Carmen the Cockroach is calling the shots, an amazing testimony to her ability to adapt and survive.

The subgenus blattodea has much to learn from Carmen Bolden.

***

The latest chapter in the story of Carmen the Cockroach unfolded last Thursday, Dec. 5. That's when the 50-year-old Bolden surrendered to authorities after being charged with 12 counts of Medicaid fraud.

More than a year after former employees at Centro Ayuda came to my office with reams of documents purporting to show that Bolden was ripping off taxpayers with a clinic she was legally barred from operating, the state attorney general's office, based on that information, arrested Bolden. She was charged with bilking the state out of thousands of dollars for mental health services not rendered, misrepresenting the type of service provided, inflating the number of psychotherapy sessions for Medicaid recipients and for submitting false information to the state Department of Public Welfare on Centro Ayuda's mental health license application.

Bolden, who faces a maximum of seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine, is free on $500,000 bail. In true cockroach fashion, Bolden didn't have to put up any money. She was released on her own recognizance. Bolden could not be reached for comment. Her lawyer, Harry Rubin, did not return a phone call.

***

When my story about Carmen Bolden appeared last October, I took a bit of heat from some members of the Puerto Rican community because the article came out just days before the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade.

I wish I could say I'd planned it that way, but it was mere kismet.

What's not kismet, however, is Bolden's knack for survival.

History, court testimony, internal clinic memos and interviews with numerous ex-employees paint Bolden as alternately charming, charismatic, manipulative, cruel and intimidating.

There is no doubt that Bolden makes things happen.

When she was 22, she helped create the Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations — an unusual political coup for a woman, especially so young, in the Latino community.

But that wasn't enough for Bolden, who was convicted of stealing from the council in 1979. Months later, Carmen the Cockroach struck again, forming Congresso De Latino Unidos, which she transformed from an idea she started in her living room into the city's most influential Latino service organization, with 90 employees and a $3.5 million annual budget.

Fifteen years later, in 1994, Bolden pleaded guilty to using Congresso funds to pay her brother for a no-show job. She served three months in jail and was ordered to pay Congresso the $25,000 she stole — money, by the way, that the organization has yet to see.

Though it might have seemed that the authorities had finally squashed the Cockroach, she was to crawl out of the woodwork once more, this time setting up Centro Ayuda a mere four months after walking out of jail.

Once again, Latino civic leaders and health advocates decry the damage Bolden has done.

Resources to help Latinos in need are already scarce and thinly spread, they say. The last thing the community needs, they say, is for Carmen the Cockroach to pick off what few crumbs are dropped from Harrisburg and Washington.

And there is additional fallout for the Latino community as a result of Carmen Bolden.

The attorney general has launched a major investigation into Philadelphia's other Latino healthcare providers.

In March, officials raided the offices of PAMM Human Resource Center Inc. A month ago, officials raided the offices of New Hopes of Philadelphia. Sources close to the investigation say the attorney general's office is looking into allegations of Medicaid fraud, similar to those allegedly committed by Bolden, at those clinics.

PAMM director Melchor Martinez insists that his clinic has committed no wrongdoing and that he changed numerous clinic procedures after the raid to comply with state mental health requirements.

A man answering the phone at New Hopes said no one from that clinic would comment about the allegations and then hung up the phone.

This is a good news/bad news scenario.

The good news is that the bad guys might be put out of business. The bad news is that there may be no one left to service the community.

That Carmen the Cockroach is still grabbing crumbs raises a nagging question never answered by officials from the State Office of Mental Health, which grants clinic licenses.

They've been well aware of Bolden's history and yet continue to grant licenses to businesses she controls.

What's up with that, guys?

Ever hear of RAID?