Investigative Reports

An Amtrak employee in Chicago, Illinois, resigned from employment on July 5, 2019, following our investigation, which revealed the employee violated company policies by engaging in outside employment while taking leave from the company under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). During an interview, the employee admitted that he worked at his private business while on FMLA leave. The employee resigned from Amtrak prior to his disciplinary hearing.

An Amtrak Program Manager based in Washington D.C. was terminated July 1, 2019, for allowing a family member to use her company travel pass and Amtrak identification card to frequently travel on Amtrak trains between May 2018 and June 2019. The company’s travel pass policy allows Amtrak employees to ride Amtrak regional and Acela trains for free or at a discounted rate. While this privilege is also extended to the Amtrak employee’s spouse or dependents, Amtrak employees are not permitted to provide their employee travel pass for use by any other person. Judicial proceedings are pending.

An Amtrak Customer Service Representative in Salinas, California, was terminated from employment on April 5, 2019, following an administrative hearing for violating company policies. Our investigation found that the Customer Service Representative manually adjusted ticket prices for the benefit and financial gain of family members and then lied to his supervisor when questioned about it.

John Mckoy pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, on June 14, 2019, to multiple health care fraud charges related to involvement in a scheme to defraud a health care benefit plan, which provided coverage to Amtrak employees and their dependents. McKoy was the owner and operator of several neighborhood health care facilities, including Mt. Pleasant Medical Management, Inc. and Harris Medical Management, Inc. Between November 2004 and October 2007, McKoy submitted, and caused to be submitted, hundreds of false and fraudulent claims to United Health Care Corporation totaling more than $321,000 for services purportedly rendered to predominately Amtrak patients who were never seen or treated for those services. McKoy’s fraud caused Amtrak a loss of approximately $291,000.This joint investigation was conducted with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Department of Labor OIG and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The OIG investigated allegations that a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Office of Law Enforcement and Security supervisor misused U.S. Government equipment and employee time in support of his personal business. It was also alleged that the supervisor made a wasteful purchase of a $3,250 mountain bike, misused a Government-owned vehicle and other Government-owned equipment for personal use, and inappropriately assigned himself to fire assignments where he earned overtime.We determined that the supervisor violated U.S. Department of the Interior policy on the use of Government property and 5 C.F.R. 2635.704, “Use of Government Property,” when he used Government equipment and employee time to support his personal business. We also found that the mountain bike purchase, although authorized, was wasteful. We determined that the supervisor had not misused a Government-owned vehicle for personal use, nor had he inappropriately assigned himself fire assignments.

We investigated an allegation that an official at the Southern Campaign Parks Group (SOCA), National Park Service (NPS), an artist, and a park friends group conspired to set up the purchase of one of the artist’s paintings via a 2015 transaction with the friends group so that the artist could avoid a Federal tax garnishment. We also investigated the timing of the art purchase that seemed to coincide with a funding increase in the cooperative agreement between the friends group and Kings Mountain National Military Park (KIMO), a park within SOCA.We found that the SOCA official directed the NPS’ acquisition of a $39,000 painting by the artist in 2015 and structured the purchase using the friends’ group as a broker for the sale even though the friends’ group did not own the painting. This structure allowed the artist, the painting’s true owner, to avoid a Federal tax garnishment that would have been imposed on him had he sold the painting directly to the NPS. The SOCA official admitted to coordinating the transaction with both the artist and the friends group, which included dictating that the friends group receive a $4,000 fee for its role in the transaction.In addition, we found that NPS contracting officials and KIMO staff did not follow Federal regulations and U.S. Department of the Interior procurement policies during the acquisition of the painting; specifically, the NPS and KIMO should have purchased the painting through a competitive bidding process rather than using sole source procedures.We also found that KIMO increased the annual funding to the friends group’s cooperative agreement by $25,000 around the same time the SOCA official began coordinating the purchase of the painting, but we found no direct connection between the friends group’s role in acquiring the painting and the increase in funding. We did find, however, that KIMO staff improperly extended the period of performance of the cooperative agreement without authorization from contracting officials.The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina declined prosecution. We provided this report to the NPS Deputy Director Exercising the Authority of Director.

The OIG investigated allegations that contractor George Patton, after being debarred from Government contracting by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), created several companies through family members and another associate and improperly obtained U.S. Government contracts from 2013 to 2015. We found that Patton was debarred from Government contracting via a voluntary exclusion agreement with the DOI during this time frame.We found that George Patton’s brother, Henry Patton; his ex-wife, Lindsey Patton; and others created four companies after George Patton’s debarment to allow him to continue bidding on and managing Government contracts, in violation of his exclusion agreement. While Patton was debarred, the four companies obtained multiple Government contracts valued at over $5 million combined. We found that George Patton received the majority of the proceeds and that the partners only participated nominally in their respective companies. During our investigation, we also uncovered evidence that George Patton and Lindsey Patton failed to report income from the companies to the Federal Government via individual tax returns.In October 2018, George Patton pleaded guilty in the Middle District of North Carolina to one count of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, and one count of tax evasion. He was later sentenced to 10 months of confinement, 36 months of supervised release, and a $300 assessment. In October 2018, Henry Patton pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and was later sentenced to 36 months of probation and a $100 assessment. In November 2018, Lindsey Patton pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was later sentenced to 36 months of probation and a $100 assessment. George and Lindsey Patton were also ordered to jointly pay restitution in the amount of $107,625.75.