The Region - News from Oct. 17, 1986

Santa Monica police are investigating a tip that nurse Hal Speers Rachman fraudulently used the credit cards of a number of AIDS victims in his care, in addition to allegedly trying to kill patient Edward Lebowitz last month while looting his accounts of $32,000, authorities said. The new investigation into Rachman, 39, is in a preliminary stage, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Paul Takajian, who is prosecuting the Venice man, and Santa Monica Police Detective Ray Cooper, chief investigator of the case. Takajian said, however, that there has been no suggestion of any previous murder attempts by Rachman. He is accused of telephoning St. John’s Hospital, pretending to be Lebowitz’s doctor and prescribing an unneeded dose of insulin that nearly killed Lebowitz, who later died of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.