Investigative Reports

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigated an allegation that the Executive Director of the Florida National Cemetery improperly stored his personal vehicle in a garage on Long Island National Cemetery property after he transferred to Florida and asked subordinates to drive him in government vehicles to and from his residence on the Long Island National Cemetery property to the airport. The Executive Director of the Calverton National Cemetery also allegedly asked subordinates to drive him in government vehicles to and from his residence and the airport. Additionally two employees allegedly misused VA resources by taking two government vehicles from New York to training in Virginia and one extended his travel to sightsee with his spouse. The OIG did not substantiate any of these allegations.

The OIG investigated allegations that a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manager sent pornographic images and sexually suggestive instant messages from his Government computer and personal cellphone to a subordinate employee. The complainant further alleged that the BLM manager installed cameras in the district office to monitor employees and had misused Federal money to purchase a 72-inch flat-screen television and furniture for his office. We found that the BLM manager sent sexually explicit messages to a subordinate employee from his Government computer during work hours and to two other BLM subordinate employees from his personal cellphone. All involved said the exchange of content was consensual, but the manager acknowledged that the conduct was inappropriate.We did not find that the BLM manager installed cameras to monitor employees, but he did admit that he had inappropriately used the building’s surveillance system and his Government-issued iPad to capture images of BLM employees without their knowledge.We found no evidence that the BLM manager misused Federal money to buy a television or furniture for his office.

U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General Investigations Report Volume XVII: June 1 - July 31, 2018.

An Amtrak Foreman in Chicago, Illinois, was issued a letter of counseling on September 9, 2018, for providing an unauthorized written endorsement of a company vendor. The written endorsement was posted on the vendor’s website.On August 23, 2018, the vendor was issued a notice to remove the unauthorized endorsement, along with all company images and logos that had been posted to their website without permission. The vendor subsequently removed the unauthorized endorsement and images containing the company logo from their website.

An Amtrak Reservation Sales Agent resigned from employment on September 4, 2018, after the employee was prosecuted for theft of customer credit card numbers. The employee used the stolen credit card numbers to purchase items for personal use valued at over $2,100. On August 22, 2018, in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, the employee entered into an Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (intervention program) agreement for 12 months. The investigation was conducted jointly with the Amtrak Police Department.

An Amtrak Extra Board Lead Service Attendant in Chicago, Illinois, was terminated from employment on August 23, 2018, following an administrative hearing for violating company policy by stealing company funds and financial paperwork, wrongfully engaging in outside employment while on medical leave, and failing to cooperate with the OIG during the investigation.Our investigation revealed that the employee stole approximately $2,418.25 in cash and/or the cash equivalent value of unaccounted for/missing inventory. Additionally, we found that the employee worked at a local university while on medical leave from the company. Criminal judicial proceedings related to this case are pending in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.Amtrak OIG conducted this joint investigation with the Amtrak Police Department.Date Posted:

The OIG investigated allegations that a senior official from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) encouraged natural resource specialists to overlook regulations so they could process Applications for Permit to Drill more quickly, and to protect any staff members who overlooked the regulations Our investigation did not substantiate the allegations and found no evidence to indicate the senior official encouraged staff to overlook the regulations as alleged. We found the senior official did meet with a group of natural resource specialists and encouraged them to streamline processes, but he did not direct staff to overlook regulations.

The OIG investigated allegations that Great Western Drilling Corporation (GWD) misreported mineral royalty data to the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) and underpaid Federal mineral royalties.We substantiated the allegations and found that for more than 6 years, the GWD violated Federal regulations and ONRR rules when they deducted their costs incurred transporting and processing natural gas and associated natural gas liquids into marketable condition from its royalty obligations to the ONRR. Because of these violations, the GWD underpaid Federal royalties to the ONRR.The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado entered into a civil settlement agreement with the GWD for $600,000 to resolve this case.

The OIG investigated allegations that a former Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) manager influenced the award of a $21 million environmental consulting contract to a firm that employed him after he left the USBR. The allegations further stated that a USBR supervisory contract specialist had a conflict of interest with managing the contract process because of her romantic relationship with the USBR manager.We found no evidence that the manager personally or substantially participated in the contract or that he influenced the award while he was employed by the USBR. We also investigated whether the manager violated post-Government employment restrictions with his employment at the firm, whether he used his position to gain employment, or whether he shared sensitive information with the firm. We found no evidence that the manager violated any restrictions, that he used his position to gain employment, or that he shared sensitive information with the firm. We also found no evidence that the supervisory contract specialist had a conflict of interest with managing the contracting staff, or that she should have recused herself from the contract process. The contract was deemed invalid and canceled because the award exceeded the contracting officer’s warrant authority. That decision was unrelated to this investigation.

We investigated allegations that a BIE official, when he was the principal of a BIE boarding school, had attempted to increase the school’s Federal funding by:• Allowing or directing the enrollment of students in the school’s gifted and talented (GT) program without properly assessing them• Submitting inaccurate student attendance recordsWe found that enrollment in the school’s GT program went up dramatically while the official was principal and that this increased the school’s Federal funding, but we did not find evidence that the official had directed school staff to identify GT students specifically to augment the school’s funding. We also learned that the school employees who oversaw the GT program after the BIE official left did not consistently comply with regulations governing GT programs at BIE schools that receive Federal funds.In addition, we found that most of the school’s students were absent as many as 6 days before the end of the school year when traveling from the school to their homes, but when the official was principal he directed school employees to mark them present in the attendance records. We did not find that this practice directly affected school funding, but it did reduce the students’ available instructional time.We provided this report to the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs for any action deemed appropriate.

An Amtrak Trainmaster was terminated from his position on August 14, 2018, and an Amtrak executive resigned from his position in lieu of termination on August 17, 2018. The Chicago-based employees violated company policy by accepting gifts from the owner of a firm doing business with Amtrak and by intentionally providing false or misleading information to the Amtrak Office of Inspector General.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) Administrative Investigations Division investigated an allegation that a Supervisory Industrial Engineer misused VA time and resources to start a privately-owned business and solicited subordinate staff to join this business. The OIG found that the Engineer, who worked within the Veterans Health Administration, Office of Strategic Integration, Veterans Engineering Resource Center (VERC), used a VA-assigned email account to communicate with subordinate staff, criticize the recent VERC restructuring, and propose they, as a team, use their experience to create a company that offered those services to outside organizations. The Engineer then created a company in the midst of discussions of potential layoffs within the VERC. The Engineer assumed the president position, and two other VERC employees became the director and treasurer. The OIG found they misused VA time and resources to conduct non-VA business during and after their official duty hours. The OIG also found that the company, at one point, consisted of up to 43 VA employees. Most of those employees have since left VA as their term appointments ended or were scheduled to end without extension. Further, the OIG found that the Engineer misused a VA-assigned email on several occasions to manage multiple personally-owned rental properties.

The OIG investigated allegations that a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) official intimidated and verbally abused a subordinate employee and that the official twice directed the employee to provide false information—once about an FWS event and once about an FWS investigation. The employee also alleged that the official took three retaliatory personnel actions against him after the official learned that the employee complained to the OIG about the abuse. We found that the official knew the employee had filed a complaint against him and subsequently took two personnel actions—a written counseling and a lowered performance evaluation—against the employee within 2 months after the employee submitted the OIG complaint. The official also directed an internal investigation into the employee’s conduct within the same time period; adjudication of that investigation was still pending at the time of this report, and no personnel action had been taken against the employee as a result. The official denied that he took these actions as retaliation for the employee filing a complaint against him and stated that he lowered the employee’s performance evaluation because the employee mishandled Equal Employment Opportunity complaints within the employee’s office.We found insufficient evidence that the official’s behavior created an abusive work environment for his staff, or that he directed the employee to provide false information.

The OIG investigated allegations that a former Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) official had targeted, bullied, and physically threatened U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) employees while at the DOI and that the official spoke in an unprofessional or threatening manner to senior DOI staff. As part of our investigation, we reviewed historical complaints against the official, and attempted to determine what his superiors knew about the history of complaints concerning his behavior and how they responded to those complaints.We identified examples of the official behaving unprofessionally and demonstrating questionable leadership when communicating with other employees. We ended our investigation after the official resigned.During our investigation, we found that a senior DOI official spoke with the BIA official regarding his behavior before our investigation, but the senior DOI official did not document any corrective action.