Investigative Reports

The OIG investigated an allegation that a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) law enforcement supervisor was involved in an outside business venture in violation of Federal ethics regulations and U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) policies. We also investigated whether the law enforcement supervisor and a subordinate special agent participated in the business activity while on duty and whether the law enforcement supervisor showed preferential treatment toward the special agent. We found the law enforcement supervisor participated in outside activity and employment with three entities, one of which was a prohibited source under Federal regulations and did not seek prior approval from his supervisor and an ethics official as required. The law enforcement supervisor also received financial reimbursements and payments for training services he provided for two of the entities, which violated Federal law, and did not report any of that income on his financial disclosure forms as required by Federal ethics regulations.Finally, the law enforcement supervisor claimed official work hours from the BLM on days when he had been providing training to these entities in his personal capacity.We found no evidence that the subordinate special agent participated in outside activity that violated Federal regulations or DOI policy, or that the law enforcement supervisor showed preferential treatment toward the special agent. The law enforcement supervisor left the Department during our investigation. We referred this matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which declined prosecution.

The OIG investigated allegations that a former U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) employee made personal purchases with his Government travel card (GTC) while he was in an absent without leave (AWOL) employment status.We confirmed the former employee used his GTC to pay his rent and car insurance and attempted to use his GTC to withdraw cash and pay his cell phone bill while AWOL. Our investigation also found the BOR lacked policy to ensure AWOL employees’ GTC accounts are suspended or cancelled.The employee was removed from Federal service. The local District Attorney’s Office charged the employee with unauthorized use of a financial transaction device and there is an active warrant for his arrest.

The OIG investigated an allegation that a supervisor within the Office of the Secretary lowered a subordinate employee’s annual performance rating in reprisal for protected disclosures and activities made by the employee.We found no evidence that the supervisor reprised against the employee. We confirmed that the employee made protected disclosures and engaged in protected activities. However, we found that the supervisor would have given the employee the same performance rating absent the protected disclosures and activities.

The OIG investigated allegations that a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) assistant hatchery manager directed an FWS biologist to validate an inaccurate cause of death for an endangered fish species in a mortality report to cover up alleged neglect at an FWS fishery. It was also alleged that a culture of censorship existed within that FWS region’s management. We investigated this matter jointly with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI’s) scientific integrity coordinators, Office of Quality and Science Integrity, U.S. Geological Survey.We found no evidence to corroborate the allegation that the biologist was directed to falsify scientific records, nor did we find evidence to corroborate that she was censored. We determined that the biologist was disciplined for a pattern of discourteous behavior toward management and not, as was claimed, in retaliation for scientific findings that reflected poorly on the FWS.We provided this report to the FWS Director for any action deemed appropriate.

Three Florida residents pleaded guilty in June and July 2019 in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, to criminal charges related to healthcare fraud as the result of an Amtrak OIG-supported investigation. Eric Snyder, owner of a substance abuse treatment facility and a sober home residence located in Delray Beach, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud on July 23, 2019. Christopher Fuller and Joseph Lubowitz, patient brokers, who recruited patients for Snyder’s substance abuse treatment center, pleaded guilty to the same charge on June 26, 2019. Snyder owned Real Life Recovery Delray, LLC, a purported substance abuse treatment center that offered clinical treatment services for alcohol and drug addiction. Additionally, Snyder owned a sober home, Halfway There, a residence purported to provide a drug-free living environment for those undergoing substance abuse treatment. As part of a scheme to fraudulently bill patients’ insurance, including Amtrak’s insurance plan, Real Life Recovery required clients to undergo excessive and medically unnecessary tests, fraudulently billing insurance providers for the tests and other treatment that patients did not receive. In exchange for submission to such tests, kickbacks and bribes in the form of free or reduced rent, payment for travel, and other benefits were provided to insured individuals who agreed to reside at Snyder’s sober home and attend treatment at Real Life Recovery. According to court documents, in addition to recruiting patients for Snyder’s business, Fuller and Lubowitz both knew of the kickbacks and bribes, and were aware of or indifferent to the fact that insurance claims based on medically unnecessary drug testing and treatment, as well as therapy sessions that were never provided, were submitted to Real Life Recovery’s patients’ insurance plans.

The OIG investigated allegations that a U.S. National Park Service (NPS) employee sexually harassed a colleague during a trip to gather data from a weather station.We found that the employee made unwanted sexual advances towards the colleague during an off-duty road trip including hugging, kissing, and making inappropriate comments.

A former Amtrak Maintainer was sentenced to 12 months of probation on July 19, 2019, in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas for advertising the sale of drug paraphernalia. A joint investigation by Amtrak OIG and the Drug Enforcement Agency determined that the company employee was involved in a scheme where chemicals were ordered from China, manufactured into steroids, and then distributed throughout the Bucks County area.

The OIG investigated an allegation that U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) senior leaders may not have been forthcoming to the USGS Director about their knowledge of violations identified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In 2018, the NRC issued the USGS a civil penalty for infractions identified during an inspection of a USGS test reactor facility. Reportedly, USGS senior leaders denied they had any knowledge of the matter at the time, and the USGS requested the OIG’s assistance in determining whether information had been communicated to them by their staff.We did not find evidence showing that senior leaders withheld information on the issue. We did find that for approximately 1 month, the two staff members involved corresponded exclusively with one another and the NRC about the violations before informing their superiors and others at the USGS in mid-October 2018. One of the staff members subsequently left the Department and the other changed positions.

The OIG investigated SRC Energy’s self-reported disclosure that it drilled wells through a railroad right-of-way without obtaining a Federal lease or permit to drill. SRC, an oil and gas company based in Colorado, reported its activities to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which referred the matter to our office for investigation.We determined that in 2014, SRC committed mineral trespass violations when it knowingly drilled two horizontal wells in Colorado and produced Federal minerals without a properly executed mineral lease, resulting in a loss of public revenue. On April 2, 2019, SRC signed a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, agreeing to pay $723,236 to resolve the mineral trespass allegations.

An Amtrak Electrician in Providence, Rhode Island, resigned from employment on July 10, 2019, following our investigation, which revealed the employee violated company policies by engaging in outside employment multiple times per week for several months in 2016 and 2017 and that, in early 2019, the employee left his work-site to preview another potential side job. During an interview, the employee admitted to leaving the Amtrak job site and performing electrical work for a side job during his shifts and on company time. The employee resigned from Amtrak prior to his disciplinary hearing.

An Amtrak Trainer was terminated from employment on May 7, 2019, and an Amtrak Foreman was terminated on May 17, 2019, after our investigation determined both employees violated company policy. We found that the Chicago-based employees falsified company training records for required safety-related tasks on passenger equipment. The Trainer and the Foreman both signed the training rosters attesting that the Foreman participated in the training classes when, in fact, the Foreman did not attend the training.

The DOL-OIG Investigations Newsletter contains a bimonthly summary of selected investigative accomplishments.