Investigative Reports

The OIG investigated allegations that Smith & Marrs, Inc., an oil and gas production company, failed to report mineral production and sales from Federal leases located in New Mexico, which resulted in a loss of royalties owed to the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI). We conducted the investigation jointly with the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Special Investigations Group. We found that Smith & Marrs, Inc., failed to properly report oil and gas production and sales from Federal leases, which resulted in an underpayment of royalties and late payment interest. We then coordinated with ONRR officials to determine the total loss of royalties and interest, and ONRR sent Smith & Marrs payment requests for royalties due and late payment interest, which amounted to approximately $158,000. ONRR subsequently confirmed they had received full payment from Smith & Marrs.We referred our investigative findings to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, which declined prosecution.

Two executives at a textile company, based in Milford, Delaware, pleaded guilty to federal program bribery charges in U.S. District Court in February.Donald Crothers, the company’s vice president for marketing and contract administration, and John Gonzales, the company’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, pleaded guilty for their roles in a bribery scheme to secure Amtrak contracts for seat cushions. The executives bribed former Amtrak employee, Timothy Miller, then a Lead Contract Administrator, to steer four fleet maintenance contracts to their company in exchange for approximately $20,000 in bribes, trips, and other items of value. Crothers pleaded guilty on February 4, 2019, and Gonzales’ guilty plea came the following day.A cross-agency team of special agents from Amtrak OIG, the FBI, and the U.S. Department of Transportation OIG conducted the investigation that resulted in the charges.

An Amtrak Passenger Conductor, two Assistant Passenger Conductors, and an Usher/Gateman were disciplined for policy violations on February 5, 2019. The employees allowed and/or assisted non-ticketed passengers to receive unauthorized free travel aboard company trains on several occasions, generally at the request of other Amtrak employees. The employees received suspensions ranging from four to five days each.

The OIG investigated allegations that two propane delivery contractors, one of which was American Indian-owned, conspired to improperly obtain U.S. Government contracts that are restricted to Indian economic enterprises under the provisions of the Buy Indian Act. Specifically, we investigated to determine if the Indian-owned company subcontracted 100 percent of contract performance to the non-Indian-owned company.We found that the Indian-owned company was awarded approximately 17 contracts, with a combined value of about $350,000, under the Buy Indian Act. We also found that though the Indian-owned company received approximately 51 percent of the net profit, it had little or no involvement with the actual performance of the propane supply contract: the non-Indian contractor provided all the fuel and made all the physical deliveries, thus violating the Buy Indian Act.

The OIG investigated allegations that a refuge manager with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) did not report an alleged indecent exposure, violated various Federal regulations and FWS policies related to the refuge’s Friends organization and concessionaire, and authorized the improper use of Government facilities and equipment.We determined that the refuge manager violated FWS policy when he did not report an indecent exposure incident that had occurred at the refuge in 2016, and that he violated Federal ethics regulations by participating in the refuge’s Friends organization’s fundraising events while in uniform. We also found that the manager violated Federal regulations and FWS policy when he allowed a for-profit corporation to operate on the refuge without an agreement or permit, and by allowing a concessionaire to operate a fish cleaning station on the refuge, which could make it difficult for refuge officials to enforce fish size limits. Finally, we found that the manager violated Federal regulations by improperly using and disposing of Government property.

The OIG investigated allegations of misuse of funds by an Alaska Native organization after the single audit found approximately $108,561 in questioned costs. The organization is funded through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We investigated to identify any criminal misuse of funds.We confirmed the single audit findings, but we did not find criminal misuse of funds.

A former Amtrak employee was sentenced on January 22, 2019, in U.S. District Court to a year and one day incarceration for federal program bribery. Also, the court ordered the employee to forfeit funds and property totaling $20,042.Timothy Miller, who pleaded guilty on April 19, 2018, to one count of federal program bribery, was employed as a Lead Contract Administrator with Amtrak and was responsible for procuring equipment and services and managing the account for diesel and locomotive seat-cushion vendors. According to court documents, Miller steered four fleet maintenance contracts worth more than $7.6 million to a single vendor in exchange for approximately $20,000 in bribes, trips, and other items of value.A cross-agency team of special agents from Amtrak OIG, the FBI, and the U.S. Department of Transportation OIG conducted the investigation that resulted in the charge.

U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General's investigations newsletter for the period of October 1 – November 30, 2018.

Section 11(d)(9) of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, requires the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency to submit to Congress and the President an annual report on the activities of the Integrity Committee. For more informatoin about the Integrity Committee, please visit the link below.

The OIG investigated allegations that an Office of Aviation Services (OAS) employee conducted private pilot examinations while on U.S. Government time, leased his personal aircraft to the Government, and improperly obtained clients because of his wife’s position at another Federal agency.We confirmed the employee conducted private pilot exams during time he also claimed for official duty on as many as 33 occasions. The employee said he mistakenly failed to take leave on 11 of those occasions but disputed the other 22. We found no indication he leased his private aircraft to any Government agency or that he obtained clients through his wife. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho declined prosecution.

An Amtrak Service Engineer resigned from employment on December 20, 2018, following a joint investigation with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) OIG which revealed the employee simultaneously worked at both Amtrak and New York’s MTA. The employee failed to disclose his dual employment on Amtrak’s Certificate of Compliance form. When confronted with the investigation’s findings, the employee immediately resigned from the Amtrak.

The OIG investigated multiple allegations of improper hiring, noncompetitive promotions, nepotism, favoritism, and other improper personnel practices by three Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) senior officials.We found that one of the officials violated Federal regulations when he pursued a procurement action to hire an employee with whom he had a prior relationship. We also found that he directed a change to the minimum qualification language in a job solicitation to aid the same employee’s selection for Federal employment. We found no evidence to support the allegations against the other two officials involving hiring, noncompetitive supervisory reassignments, nepotism, or favoritism.We found that a BSEE official violated Federal regulations when he pursued a procurement action to hire an employee with whom he had a prior relationship.

We investigated an allegation that Jamie K. Reaser, Executive Director, National Invasive Species Council (NISC) Secretariat, may have violated Federal ethics and conflict of interest regulations by directing the award of a sole-source contract to an individual with whom she resided and may have had a personal and/or financial relationship.We found that in May 2017, Reaser violated Federal regulations when she directed the award of a $20,000 sole-source contract to her friend, with whom she routinely lived during the week rentfree, for writing a review article. We also found that she provided him with the Government’s budget for the contract. We also found that all the contracts awarded since Reaser became the NISC Secretariat’s executive director were awarded through sole-source procedures at her direction, even though some of those could have been openly competed. In some of the cases, Reaser provided sensitiveprocurement information to contractors prior to award, which was contrary to acquisition procedures.We are providing our report to the Assistant Secretary for Budget, Finance, Performance, and Acquisition for any action deemed appropriate.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigated an allegation that during fiscal year 2017 an employee of the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center (VAMC) in Richmond, Virginia, misused official time by recording overtime and compensatory time in excess of 500 hours and 200 hours, respectively. During its review, the OIG also evaluated the employee’s use of telework. Concurrent with the OIG investigation, the Veterans Integrated Service Network 6 (VISN 6) Financial Quality Assurance Manager audited the time worked by the employee and concluded that the extent of the employee’s additional work hours was known to the VAMC’s management, but that documentation and internal controls governing the use of overtime were insufficient. VISN 6 recommended that the VAMC prioritize the hiring of an additional staff member in the employee’s work group to reduce the need for overtime, and that the VAMC management establish and maintain proper internal control structure over the approval of overtime and compensatory time. The OIG concurred with the findings and recommendations of the VISN 6 audit and made no additional recommendations. The OIG investigation also determined that the employee lacked a telework agreement, and that the employee’s position was not coded in the Personnel and Accounting Integrated Data system as telework eligible. When the employee was alerted to this during the OIG investigation, the employee took corrective action to obtain a telework agreement. The agreement was approved by the employee’s supervisor and the Associate Director of the VAMC. Because remedial action was taken, the OIG made no recommendations.