The "Nick" Recordings and Emails, the Ann Arbor Police Department Evidence, an HHS-OIG DVD, and a Simple Question: What Records Document Their Handling?

AAPD Case No. 17-3517 involved two distinct categories of evidence attributed to the unidentified individual known as "Nick."

The first consisted of two audio recordings totaling approximately five minutes. The recordings were referenced in the search warrant affidavits associated with AAPD Case No. 17-3517 and contained statements concerning allegations that Drs. Bradley Foerster and Myria Petrou were attempting to extort Dr. Paul Cronin.

The second consisted of August 2017 email communications from the unidentified individual known as "Nick." The emails alleged that Dr. Paul Cronin was the father of Drs. Bradley Foerster and Myria Petrou's son and accused Drs. Foerster and Petrou of attempting to extort Dr. Paul Cronin. The emails later became part of AAPD Case No. 17-3517 and resulted in the issuance of an additional search warrant.

As discussed in Ann Arbor Police Department DVD, HHS-OIG, FOIA Denial, and Subsequent Production, those email communications—not the audio recordings—were later identified as part of a DVD originating from the Ann Arbor Police Department that became part of a Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General investigative file. The DVD was identified within an HHS-OIG investigative file concerning a University of Michigan Radiology medical billing complaint submitted under Dr. Myria Petrou's name. The timestamp associated with the complaint establishes that Dr. Myria Petrou did not submit it.

Dr. Bradley Foerster has since submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to HHS-OIG seeking records documenting how the Ann Arbor Police Department DVD entered and was handled within federal custody. That request remains pending.

Years later, after Dr. Bradley Foerster narrowed a pending FBI Freedom of Information Act request to records relating to Russia-Gate, the FBI advised that it had located approximately 514 pages and five minutes of responsive audio media. During subsequent litigation, the FBI confirmed that it had reviewed the audio and withheld it in its entirety. Whether the FBI audio is related to the recordings referenced in AAPD Case No. 17-3517 remains unknown.

Taken together, these developments raised additional questions concerning how the "Nick" recordings and the Ann Arbor Police Department DVD were documented, handled, and, if applicable, transmitted after entering local and federal custody. To address those questions, Dr. Bradley Foerster and Dr. Myria Petrou submitted complementary Freedom of Information Act requests.

Dr. Foerster requested audit logs, access logs, activity logs, transaction logs, and other system-generated records documenting access to the DVD maintained under Evidence Tag 170003517.001. The request did not seek the DVD itself or its contents, but only records documenting its institutional handling.

Dr. Petrou requested chain-of-custody records, evidence logs, property records, media inventories, dissemination records, inter-agency communications, FBI and HHS-OIG transmittal records, and records documenting whether the two "Nick" recordings had been copied, disseminated, or transmitted to outside agencies.

The Ann Arbor Police Department responded to Dr. Foerster's request by reporting that it had no responsive audit records. It responded to Dr. Petrou's request by stating that there was "Nothing additional to what was provided in report 17-03517."

The requests, the Department's responses, and related federal records are reproduced below.

June 17, 2026 – AAPD Response to Dr. Bradley Foerster's Audit-Log FOIA Request

June 22, 2026 – AAPD Response to Dr. Myria Petrou's Chain-of-Custody FOIA Request

Related Federal Records

The following FBI records are included for context. They do not identify the subject of the approximately five minutes of audio. Whether the audio acknowledged by the FBI is related to the recordings referenced in AAPD Case No. 17-3517 remains unknown.

September 22, 2025 – FBI Email Identifying Approximately Five Minutes of Responsive Audio

May 15, 2026 – FBI Litigation Release Letter Withholding Audio in Full

Taken together, the records establish that AAPD Case No. 17-3517 involved audio recordings and separate email communications attributed to the unidentified individual known as "Nick." They further establish that email communications from that investigation later became part of an HHS-OIG investigative file and that the FBI separately acknowledged approximately five minutes of responsive audio. What the available records do not establish is whether the FBI audio and the AAPD recordings are the same materials or what records document their transfer, handling, or dissemination between agencies.

Core Archive Documents

Case Model
Case Index
Federal Record Summary
Town & Gown: A Chronology (2014–2026)
From "This Will Ruin All Our Lives" to "I Will"

Selected Reporting

Brad Foerster, MD PhD

Brad Foerster is a FOIA advocate documenting requests, transparency disputes, and accountability investigations involving public agencies, universities, police oversight, and Russia-Gate related inquiries. His work compiles original documents, timelines, and analysis of public records and institutional responses. Brad is also a board-certified radiologist, author of Town & Gown, and has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles. Brad lives in Potomac, Maryland with his family and is active in the Montgomery County Medical Society and the Takoma Park U.S. & World History Book Club.