The $80,000 Dr. Paul Cronin Check and the Missing Affidavit: No Response to September 3 Inquiry; October 3 Follow-Up Concerning the 2017 AAPD Investigation
On October 3, 2026, one month after Drs. Bradley Foerster and Myria Petrou asked Drs. Paul Cronin and Aine Kelly to clarify the source and accounting of funds they provided beginning in 2016, Drs. Cronin and Kelly had not responded. Drs. Foerster and Petrou therefore sent a follow-up asking again where the money came from, whether anyone else supplied or reimbursed any of it, and whether those funds were ever examined during the 2017 Ann Arbor Police Department investigation led by Detective Bradley Rougeau. The follow-up begins simply: “We haven’t received a response, and we would really appreciate one.”
At the center of the inquiry is an $80,000 check Dr. Cronin gave Dr. Foerster on August 29, 2016. The check itself did not identify the payment as a loan, and the money was deposited into the Bank of Ann Arbor account later restrained by AAPD. On April 11, 2017, attorney Michael Reynolds reported that the City was claiming money in the account was connected to criminal activity and specifically identified the $80,000 and $20,000 check deposits as transactions that needed to be understood. Two days later, Drs. Cronin, Kelly, Foerster, and Petrou signed an $80,000 promissory note.
On April 14, Dr. Cronin accompanied Drs. Foerster and Petrou to a hearing before Judge Carol Kuhnke, where City Attorney Thomas Kent, appearing on behalf of Detective Rougeau, stated that AAPD believed misappropriated funds had entered their Bank of Ann Arbor account. The affidavit underlying that assertion was not produced at the hearing. The available record does not establish that Dr. Cronin’s $80,000 was the money AAPD was referring to. That is precisely what remains unresolved.
Despite being asked directly about these issues on September 3, Drs. Cronin and Kelly provided no response during the following month. The October 3 follow-up therefore puts the questions to them again: Where did the $80,000 come from? Did all of the money they provided during 2016–2018 come from them, or did anyone else provide, transfer, advance, or reimburse any of it? And did Detective Rougeau, AAPD, Thomas Kent, the City Attorney’s Office, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office, or anyone else ever ask them about the money, its source, or its purpose?
The follow-up also asks a question Drs. Foerster and Petrou say they have wondered about for years: does any of this have anything to do with what happened at Drs. Cronin and Kelly’s home on October 3, 2016? After going to dinner for their wedding anniversary, Drs. Foerster and Petrou visited the home. They recall Alison Cronin telling Duaa Altaee that she “knew too much” and “had to die”; Ms. Altaee becoming sick; Dr. Kelly attempting to give her medication; and Dr. Kelly then giving Dr. Cronin a pill, after which he almost immediately passed out on the living-room floor and began to snore.
Drs. Foerster and Petrou ask directly whether what happened that night had anything to do with the money Drs. Cronin and Kelly had provided, where it came from, or anything else occurring at the time that Drs. Foerster and Petrou did not know about. The email does not assume a connection. It asks Drs. Cronin and Kelly to say so if there was none and to explain what they remember if their recollection differs.
Drs. Foerster and Petrou also request any contemporaneous records that could help answer these questions and expressly state: “We aren’t asking you to speculate.” If Drs. Cronin and Kelly do not know or do not remember, they are asked simply to say so.
The September 3 inquiry received no response. The October 3 follow-up now asks Drs. Cronin and Kelly again to provide straightforward answers concerning where the funds came from, what they knew about the AAPD investigation, and whether the October 3, 2016 events were connected in any way.
The complete October 3 follow-up, the unanswered September 3 original inquiry, and the six supporting documents are reproduced below.
October 3, 2026 Follow-Up and Unanswered September 3, 2026 Original Inquiry to Drs. Paul Cronin and Aine Kelly
The complete email record is reproduced below, beginning with the October 3, 2026 follow-up and continuing with the original September 3, 2026 inquiry.
Supporting Documents
Document 1 — August 29, 2016: Paul Cronin $80,000 check to Bradley Foerster
Document 2 — April 11, 2017: Michael Reynolds email concerning the City Attorney and Detective Rougeau
Document 3 — April 13, 2017: $80,000 promissory note
Document 4 — April 14, 2017: Hearing transcript before Judge Carol Kuhnke — key passages at pp. 5–6, 20–21, and 24–25
Document 5 — April 10, 2018: $235,000 promissory note
Document 6 — September 12, 2018: Reynolds Responses to Defendants' Combined Discovery — key passages at pp. 6 and 12
Related Documentary Record
Ann Arbor Police Department Investigation:
Ann Arbor Police Report — 2017 Larceny Investigation, Case No. 17-3517
Cronin/Kelly — Sheriff’s Sale Funds:
Paid in Full. No Answer. — Requests to Dr. Paul Cronin and Dr. Aine Kelly Regarding Sheriff’s Sale Funds (2021–2024)
University of Michigan — Thomas Kent Records:
U-Michigan Estimates $1,447 for OGC Thomas Kent’s File on Drs. Bradley Foerster and Myria Petrou; $723 Deposit Paid
Selected Reporting
- Bradley Foerster Submits 140-Exhibit, 1,121-Page Documentary Chronology to FBI for Supervisory Review of the Investigation Involving Dr. Bradley Foerster, Dr. Myria Petrou, and Duaa Altaee
- From One FBI File to a Legislative Proposal: Peter and Maria Foerster Ask Senator Van Hollen's Office and Congressman Jamie Raskin to Consider a Uniform Administrative Framework for Federal Investigations
- Eva Feldman Documentary Chronology: 139 Exhibits on NIH R01NS082304, University Proceedings, and Federal Investigation — No Response Received
- Bradley Foerster and Myria Petrou Send Ann Arbor Officials Documentary Chronology on AAPD and Related Federal Investigations — No Response Received
- Timothy Lynch Documentary Chronology: 63 Exhibits on University of Michigan Office of General Counsel, University Investigations, and Law Enforcement — No Response Received
- Bradley Foerster and Myria Petrou Documentary Chronology: 8 Exhibits Document More Than Two Years of Efforts to Trace Bank of Ann Arbor's $1.4 Million Sheriff's Sale Credit Bid — No Response Received
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 a member of the Montgomery County Medical Society and the Takoma Park U.S. & World History Book Club.