Investigative Reports

The tribal official profited from awarding contracts that resulted in his company receiving subcontracts, but no policy prohibited his actions.

A Crew Management Representative based in Wilmington, Delaware, was terminated from the company on May 3, 2022, after a disciplinary hearing. Our investigation found that the employee violated company policies by engaging in outside employment while on a medical leave of absence and receiving short-term disability benefits. The employee is not eligible for rehire.

An Amtrak train attendant based in New Orleans, Louisiana, was terminated from employment on April 4, 2022, following his administrative hearing. The employee was terminated after our investigation resulted in criminal charges for making false statements and theft of government funds. He pleaded guilty to these charges on April 27, 2022.Our investigation found the former employee fraudulently received unemployment benefits provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The employee was not eligible to receive the funds as he was employed by Amtrak during this time and the loan application form he submitted contained false information. The employee received an $89,583 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan by falsifying information in the loan application. He will be sentenced at a future date.

The owner of Corrosion Monitoring Services (CMS), a TVA contractor, pleaded guilty to one felony count of Misprision of a Felony, one felony count of Obstruction of Justice and one felony count of Witness Tampering. The charges were related to an allegation that CMS purposefully damaged metal tubes used in an air heating and exchange system at TVA’s former Paradise Fossil Plant in order to repair those tubes under the CMS contract with TVA.

Between 2014 and 2016, a former executive director of an Alaska Native organization embezzled $174,290.67 through unauthorized use of accounts.

John Flores, a former Amtrak reservation sales agent based in Riverside, California, was sentenced on April 25, 2022, in U.S. District Court, for the Central District of California, to 3 years of probation and $25,137 in restitution to the company. He pleaded guilty to Theft from Programs Receiving Federal Funds on September 29, 2021. Our investigation found that Flores stole hundreds of eVouchers valued at over $25,000 from customers’ accounts by exploiting the company’s computer system. He then resold the stolen eVouchers for his own personal gain. Flores resigned from the company on May 2, 2017.

Nestor Rojas, a resident of Miami, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud on April 21, 2022. Our investigation found that Rojas conspired with others to unlawfully bill for approximately $1.4 billion of laboratory testing services which were medically unnecessary and fraudulently used rural hospitals as billing shells to submit claims for services that mostly were performed at outside laboratories. As a result of this scheme, Amtrak’s health care plans paid out more than $610,000 to three rural hospitals and associated laboratories. Rojas will be sentenced at a future date. Criminal judicial proceedings for additional co-conspirators are pending.

Dominique Henley, a former Amtrak baggageman based in Chicago, pleaded guilty to identity theft and was sentenced in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, on April 20, 2022, to 24 months’ probation. Our investigation found that Henley was in possession of 21 Social Security cards and 13 state and government-issued identification cards belonging to 21 different individuals. We found that of the 21 individuals’ identification documents in his possession, 19 were previously located in the Chicago Union Station lost and found or were reported lost on Amtrak trains. Henley was terminated from employment on November 3, 2020.

This investigation was initiated based on a Highway Contract Route driver for the Postal Service who alleged he transported completed mail-in ballots across state lines from Bethpage, NY, to Lancaster, PA, on October 21, 2020.