Founded Allegations of Misconduct by NPS Senior Manager and Subordinate

The OIG investigated allegations that a National Park Service (NPS) senior manager purchased personal gifts with government funds, reprised against an employee, committed travel fraud, misused Government-owned vehicles, wasted training funds, improperly permitted park guests to lodge in a ranger station, and used her personal credit card to pay for lodging of park guests. We also investigated an alleged conflict of interest by a subordinate of the NPS senior manager. We substantiated several of the allegations, including that the senior manager used park funds to purchase two high valued items, valued at nearly $600, which could not be located or accounted for. We also confirmed the senior manager lowered the performance rating of an employee after concerns were reported related to the senior manager’s official travel. We further determined that the senior manager permitted visitors and park employees to lodge at a ranger station that was not approved as park housing. We also substantiated that the senior manager drove a Government vehicle to their private residence prior to official travel without the required written approval, and that the senior manager paid for a visitor’s lodging with personal funds and then claimed reimbursement from the Government. We did not find evidence that the senior manager committed travel fraud or wasted training funds as alleged. We also confirmed that a subordinate of the NPS senior manager improperly used park funds to purchase antiques from a family member, a violation of conflict of interest regulations. We referred this matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York, which declined prosecution.