NEW YORK — ThE gal pal of a top NYPD Mounted Unit supervisor won a $2.5 million contract to care for retired police horses upstate – even though she had little experience and inadequate land and stables to board them, a Post investigation has found.
The two-month probe has uncovered alarming conflicts of interests and potentially more serious violations in the NYPD's award to Vicki Nanninga, the girlfriend of Detective Richard DePamphilis, the department's Mounted Unit quartermaster.
The contract was doled out last year after the NYPD was embarrassed by disclosures that its retired horses were receiving inadequate care at another upstate farm that was falling into bankruptcy.
Among the revelations unearthed about Nanninga's deal:
* DePamphilis served as a "point man" for the contract – reviewing applications, conducting property inspections and making critical recommendations about who deserved NYPD business.
* The 22-year veteran even took Nanninga to the inspection of another bidder's property, introducing her as "a photographer" while she snapped photos.
* Just three days before the contract was approved, Nanninga's company, Stone Horse Inn, in the upstate town of Dolgeville, "voluntarily" slashed its bid by more than $300,000, guaranteeing a low bid.
* Nanninga claimed she had 35 acres of land and two barns, when she had only 20 acres and one barn with insufficient space.
It's not clear whether she ever took any horses to Dolgeville because, within weeks of getting the contract, she sold off the property and began leasing a lush 257-acre spread in Pennsylvania, where she says she is "the manager."
The Post recently visited her new spread and found about 40 horses roaming happily on the land, including, she says, her growing stable of 30 NYPD horses.
Nanninga said she was acquainted with several NYPD mounted officers and named several, including DePamphilis.
She said she knew many of them dating back "12 to 15 years," when, she said, she worked for a feed company "trying to sell" to the city.
But she introduced DePamphilis as "my boyfriend," including when she bought, and later sold, her upstate home, sources said.
She bristled when asked if any cop played a role in her success, saying, "No one even knew I was bidding. "No one helped. They were never involved in the contract. It would be a conflict of interest. There is no reason for them to know."
And the 11th-hour bid cut?
A "mathematical" error, she said. "I made a mistake in my figures."
The NYPD said its Internal Affairs Bureau has begun a probe. DePamphilis did not respond to a request for comment.
The NYPD horse controversy started in late 2005, when the NYPD found 58 retired steeds malnourished at an Otisville farm.
The department quickly found adoptive homes for all but 28. It also needed to find homes for 15 more in each of the next two years.
The NYPD decided to give out three separate contracts, each to run for 10 years, and sought bidders in February 2006.
Nanninga, who worked in advertising for years at Lee Publications, said she noticed an NYPD ad when it arrived at Country Folk, one of Lee's magazines.
At the time, she was living in Dolgeville. Nanninga, who has been married at least twice, had purchased the 20 acres from Robert Bridger in December 2004, after her latest divorce.
The property had a modest home, eight cleared acres and a barn that was in need of repair.
"There was really no space for turning horses loose, to let them go to pasture," Bridger said.
The Bridgers recalled that DePamphilis showed up at the closing. Nanninga introduced him as "my boyfriend, Richard," an NYPD mounted cop who planned to move in with her, they said.
At the time, DePamphilis, who joined the Mounted Unit in 1986, was married to a Long Island lawyer but was about to move out. He later registered an ATV at Nanninga's upstate home.
Nanninga spruced up her Dolgeville property, giving her house a face lift and turning the barn into a sparkling shelter with five stalls.
But her application should have raised red flags with the NYPD's Contract Administration Unit and its Mounted Unit cop committee, which included DePamphilis. Committee members were sworn to keep bids confidential and disqualify themselves if they had conflicts of interest.
Nanninga set up Stone Horse Inn just weeks before filing and lacked the professional stabling history of other bidders, despite claiming 30 years' experience.
She also claimed to have 35, not 20, acres and two barns, rather than one. But she said she could immediately take 15 NYPD steeds.
Asked about the apparent application discrepancies, Nanninga said initially that she also owned 10, then 15 more acres across the street. But the local clerk's office found no evidence of that.
In the end, the NYPD committee gave Nanninga the highest "technical score," nosing out Smullen Stables, of upstate Cobleskill.
The Smullens said DePamphilis arrived to personally inspect their property, with Nanninga in tow.
"I asked, 'Are you a member of the Police Department?' " Terri Smullen recalled. " 'No,' they said. 'I am just with him taking pictures,' she said."
The Smullens hoped for 20 horses but received eight. Willoughby Ridge Farms, in Holderness, NH, requested 10 but got five.
Nanninga got the lion's share – 15 steeds and the lucrative right to receive 15 more each of the next two years.
She insisted she initially took them upstate.
She says she sold that home in February 2007, and moved to the leased digs in Abbottstown, Pa., a month later, records show.
She said the "city was notified well in advance" of her intention to move. The NYPD said it was "uncertain" when it learned that.
"Everything I said the [horses] would have, they have," Nanninga said. "It is an honor to serve and give them dignity. This is the best place for them."
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Stable relationship
The $2.5 million contract to care for retired cop horses awarded to Vicki Nanninga raises eyebrows because:
* NYPD supervisor Richard DePamphilis, her boyfriend, did not disclose his personal relationship with her.
* DePamphilis took Nanninga on an inspection of a competing bidder's farm, Smullen Stables (James Smullen, left).
* She exaggerated on her application, boasting of 35 acres and two barns, when she actually had 20 acres and one barn.
* She cut her bid by $300,000 at the 11th hour.
* She moved horses to leased Pennsylvania stables.