Investigative Reports

The OIG investigated an allegation that altered records were submitted to the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR). The records were submitted to ONRR by a third-party consultant on behalf of their client, a company operating Federal mineral leases, during an audit of royalty refund requests. We found no evidence that records were altered. The information in the client’s official files matched the record the consultant provided to ONRR.

The OIG investigated allegations that a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) official was not authorized to use a Government-owned vehicle (GOV) for home-to-work commuting, traveled to his home state for personal reasons under the guise of work trips, inappropriately interfered in a hiring action to select a lesser-qualified applicant, and planned to relocate a BLM office to another state to personally benefit from the move.We found that, from July 2017 to June 2018, the BLM official used a GOV for home-to-work commuting without authorization. We did not substantiate any of the other allegations. We did not investigate the allegation that the official planned to relocate a BLM office to another state to personally benefit from a Government-funded move because this proposed move was part of a larger reorganization by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The OIG investigated an allegation that Tracy Bronson, the former Executive Director of Calhoun Conservation District (CCD) in Marshall, MI, stole U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant funds from the CCD. We conducted this investigation jointly with the EPA OIG and the Michigan State Police.We determined that between 2014 and 2017, Bronson embezzled over $550,000 from the CCD’s credit union account, which included grant funds awarded to the CCD by the FWS and the EPA. We found that between 2014 and 2017, the FWS awarded the CCD approximately $331,651 in grant funds.Bronson resigned from her position with the CCD and pleaded guilty to one count of theft concerning programs receiving Federal funds in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. She was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay $573,159.20 in restitution.

The OIG investigated allegations that a tribe had improperly removed funds from the bank account of a tribally controlled school funded by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). We investigated whether the tribe exceeded its authority in removing the funds and whether any of the funds had been stolen.We found that the tribe did not exceed its authority by removing the funds and that no funds had been stolen. We found that the tribe removed the funds as part of an effort to spend down a $3 million surplus that had accumulated in the school’s account over several years.

The OIG investigated allegations that a Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) manager reprised against a BSEE employee for engaging in protected activities.We found that the employee engaged in the protected activities and that the manager knew of the complaints made to our office and to the Equal Employment Opportunity Office when the personnel actions were taken. We found, however, that the employee routinely made negative comments about BSEE managers and employees and had engaged in conduct that others perceived as harassing and hostile, and that the manager would have taken personnel action against the employee because of the employee’s misconduct, regardless of whether the employee had engaged in the protected activities.

We initiated this investigation based on information we received while investigating U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Ryan Zinke’s use of noncommercial aircraft for U.S. Government travel. This investigation focused on whether Secretary Zinke abused his position by having his family members travel with him in Government vehicles, whether he asked that his wife, Lolita Zinke, be appointed as a DOI volunteer to legitimize her travel, and whether he requested a Government cell phone for her. We also examined Secretary Zinke’s use of his protective service detail, including during a vacation the Zinkes took to Turkey and Greece in August 2017. In addition, we reviewed his office’s purchase of secretarial challenge coins (small coins bearing an organization’s emblem or logo, given as tokens of recognition or appreciation), and an allegation that a DOI employee resigned because he made her walk his dog while at work.We determined that the DOI Office of the Solicitor’s Division of General Law approved Lolita Zinke and other individuals to ride in Government vehicles with Secretary Zinke. Although this violated a DOI policy prohibiting non-Government employees from riding in Government vehicles, officials we spoke to noted that the Secretary was in a unique position because he was required to use security vehicles and could not use a personal vehicle if he wanted his wife to travel with him. The Zinkes reimbursed costs associated with Lolita Zinke’s travel in DOI vehicles when required.In addition, Lolita Zinke ultimately did not become a volunteer. While Secretary Zinke confirmed that his staff had researched the implications of making her a volunteer, he denied that it was an effort to circumvent the requirement to reimburse the DOI for her travel. We also did not find that he had requested a Government cell phone for her.While we found no prohibition against a security detail protecting Secretary Zinke on his vacation, we learned that the U.S. Park Police had no finalized policy governing the detail’s activities. The detail, which was unarmed, cost the DOI over $25,000. In addition, Secretary Zinke told his detail on one occasion to drive a non-Government employee to the airport, but he was later told that this was not appropriate and it has not happened since. The remaining allegations were unfounded.We provided this report to the Deputy Secretary of the Interior.

The OIG investigated allegations that a Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) manager violated Federal procurement laws and regulations by improperly influencing recommendations made by procurement source selection committees and by inflating Independent Government Cost Estimates (IGCEs). We also investigated allegations that the manager’s supervisor also improperly influenced the committee’s recommendations and obtained protected source selection information.We found that the BSEE manager and her supervisor mishandled source selection information by altering source selection reports, which are used to prioritize vendor ratings, and by influencing source selection committee members to change their vendor recommendations. In addition, the manager released protected source selection information to BSEE employees not authorized to receive it. We also found that the manager’s supervisor requested and received protected source selection information that he was not authorized to receive. Finally, we found that the manager also directed staff to increase the IGCEs to meet predetermined budgets, which contradicts the objective and independent nature of an IGCE.

The OIG investigated allegations that an Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) employee and a tribal member agreed to disguise the purchase of tribal land as a gift conveyance from the tribal member. We also investigated allegations that the OST employee attempted to add allotments to the transaction without the tribal member’s knowledge and that a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) employee forged the tribal member’s name on BIA documents filed in connection with the gift conveyance.We confirmed the OST employee and the tribal member agreed to disguise the sale of ownership interests in multiple allotments as a gift conveyance to the OST employee’s minor son. The OST employee paid the tribal member $2,700, but the tribal member canceled the transaction before it was executed. We did not find evidence that the OST employee altered the agreements to add allotments or that the BIA employee forged any documents.

The OIG investigated suspicious internet traffic discovered during an IT security audit of the computer network at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center satellite imaging facility in Sioux Falls, SD. The audit found indications that a USGS employee’s computer was compromised and infected with malware. We sought to confirm how a compromise occurred.We found that the employee knowingly used U.S. Government computer systems to access unauthorized internet web pages. We also found that those unauthorized pages hosted malware that downloaded to the employee’s Government laptop. The malware then exploited USGS’ system; it introduced additional malicious code, reduced the Department’s ability to monitor exploits, introduced a covert channel program, and automatically connected to malicious websites in Russia. We did not find evidence that the employee intentionally introduced the malware, nor was there evidence of data exfiltration. We issued a separate Management Advisory related to this investigation discussing vulnerabilities in USGS’ IT security posture.The employee retired a day before his employment was to be terminated. We provided this report to the Director of the USGS.

The OIG investigated an allegation that a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) contract specialist misused his assigned Government charge card.We determined that Matthew Wathen embezzled over $26,000 through unauthorized personal use of his Government charge card, including weekly lodging, monthly rental cars, dining, gasoline, vacations, and other expenses.Wathen resigned from his USGS position and pleaded guilty to one count of theft of Government funds in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. He was sentenced to 5 years of probation and ordered to pay restitution of $26,350.

The OIG investigated an allegation that a Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) investigator violated Government ethics regulations by applying for a position with an oil company while he was investigating an incident involving the same company.We found that the employee notified his supervisor of his intent to apply for the position, and a BSEE ethics official provided timely guidance regarding the potential conflict of interest. The BSEE investigator never applied for a position with the oil company.

The OIG investigated allegations that a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) law enforcement officer stole Government property from the wildlife refuge where he was assigned, to include lawn maintenance equipment, furniture, and ammunition. The complainant also alleged that the officer’s spouse offered to sell them the stolen Government ammunition.We found no evidence that the officer stole Government property, nor did we corroborate that his spouse offered to sell Government ammunition to anyone. We reviewed refuge records and property and confirmed that no property was missing.

The OIG investigated allegations that a tribe removed approximately $11 million from the bank account of a tribally controlled school funded by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). We investigated whether the funds had been removed as alleged and whether the removal violated any law or regulation.We found that the tribe did remove the funds, but did not violate any law or regulation by doing so. The tribe took the funds to reimburse itself for unpaid indirect costs that had accumulated since 2001.

The OIG investigated allegations that a former National Park Service (NPS) superintendent held visitor donations in a private investment account instead of a U.S. Treasury account as required by NPS policy and may have personally benefited from the funds.We found no evidence of misuse or personal gain. We analyzed the account and found no withdrawals or transfers; all the donations remained in the account. Although holding the funds in a private investment account violated NPS policy, we found the superintendent was following procedures established by his predecessors. The NPS is in the process of transferring the funds to a U.S. Treasury account and enhancing its oversight of the funds.

The OIG investigated the alleged theft of a U.S. Treasury check paid to Cheryle Jordan for land that Jordan sold through the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI’s) Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations. Jordan filed a claim with the Office of Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) stating she never received the check. After Jordan filed her claim, however, the OST determined the check had been cashed.We determined Jordan falsely reported the check as stolen. Jordan admitted she mailed a false claim to fraudulently obtain a second check. She subsequently pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Montana to mail fraud and was sentenced to 2 years’ probation.

The OIG investigated allegations that an FWS contractor falsely certified payments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) under a construction contract it held in the Southeast Region and that the contractor failed to pay a subcontractor for work performed.We found no evidence that the contractor falsely certified payments to the FWS or that it withheld payment to its subcontractor. We found that the subcontractor did not provide the contractor with timely and accurate support for its invoices and that there were legitimate delays in the contractor’s payments to the subcontractor. In an eventual settlement, the subcontractor acknowledged they had been paid in full for the work performed.