Investigative Reports

The OIG investigated an allegation that Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Administratively Determined (AD) firefighters intentionally set wildland fires for profit on the Cherokee Reservation in Cherokee, NC.We found that firefighters Raymond Swayney, Grady Davis, Zachary Winchester, and three others caused or participated in several wildland arsons for profit between fiscal years 2010 and 2014, impacting hundreds of acres in Cherokee and costing the Federal Government thousands of dollars.Swayney, Davis, and Winchester pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. Swayney was sentenced to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $4,989 for violating 18 U.S.C. § 1855 (Timber Set Afire) and 18 U.S.C. § 371 (Conspiracy). Davis was sentenced to 12 months of probation and ordered to pay restitution of $926.16 for violating 18 U.S.C. § 4 (Misprision of a Felony). Winchester was sentenced to 30 days in prison, followed by 24 months of probation for violating 18 U.S.C. § 371 (Conspiracy). At the request of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, we referred the three other firefighters to Cherokee Tribal Court for their participation in starting the fires.

The OIG investigated allegations of mismanagement from students, faculty, and administrators at Haskell Indian Nations University (Haskell) against the Haskell President. The complaints included allegations that the Haskell President and other university officials mishandled misconduct complaints, and that the Haskell President bullied employees, committed nepotism for the benefit of a family member, and showed favoritism towards a subordinate employee. We also investigated allegations of an improper computer purchase using Title III funds.We found that university officials did not consistently follow Haskell’s guidelines for handling complaints of misconduct and that Haskell’s administration inaccurately reported crime statistics in 2014 and 2015. We also found that Haskell employees felt bullied and intimidated by the Haskell President, and we found that the President’s presence in a meeting influenced a family member’s appointment to a high-level position. We did not find evidence that the President showed favoritism or that computers were purchased improperly as alleged.During our investigation, we learned of allegations that a Haskell instructor sexually assaulted a student. We referred that matter to the Lawrence Police Department.

The OIG investigated allegations that Prime 8, LLC, a company that conducted oil and gas operations and inspections in the Gulf of Mexico, violated departmental regulations and created records to support fictitious inspections of offshore platforms regulated by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).We found the company did not perform platform visits and inspections as required, and documents prepared by the company’s owner concealed that the mandatory platform visits had not occurred. Because of the inaccuracies in the company’s documents, BSEE inspectors could not have known that the company did not complete the required inspections.We referred our investigation to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, which declined prosecution.

The OIG completed an investigation to determine if Peabody Energy Corporation (Peabody) submitted false statements to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) to obtain self-bonds for coal mines on Federal leases in Wyoming and to determine if the WDEQ acted appropriately in the review of those applications.We did not find any false statements submitted by Peabody. Further, we found the WDEQ acted appropriately in the review of Peabody’s self-bonding applications.We issued this report of investigation to the Director for the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.

This work product summarizes an OIG review of allegations of VA waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement. The results of the OIG’s oversight efforts are typically published in a formal report. However, the OIG has issued alternative work products, such as this one, in lieu of a full report in certain circumstances. These included instances in which the OIG could not substantiate an allegation or substantiated an allegation without issuing recommendations, when actions were taken by VA during the course of an ongoing project to remediate errors, or when the subject of an allegation retired or resigned from service prior to the completion of OIG's work. In addition, the OIG has issued work products when investigating allegations involving its own personnel when not in the exclusive purview of other agencies.

The VA OIG did not find that the Northern California Health Care System Director violated VA policy regarding the use of government vehicles. The Director was unaware employees drove these vehicles between work and home. The OIG found that Dr. Dawn Erckenbrack (GS-15), the Associate Director of the Sacramento VA Medical Center, improperly authorized a local policy permitting her to delegate authority for the approval of no-cost travel orders to the Chief of Logistics Management Service (CLMS). The CLMS used this authority to allow employees to take government vehicles home overnight and on weekends under the provisions applicable to TDY travel with the use of no-cost travel orders. The Director said that upon learning of this policy, he immediately rescinded it. The OIG did not substantiate another allegation, negating the need for further discussion in the report.

An Amtrak Building and Bridges Supervisor in Baltimore, Maryland, was terminated from employment following an administrative hearing on October 23, 2018, for violating company policy by claiming and receiving pay for unworked hours and instructing a subordinate employee, also based in Baltimore, to use the supervisor’s company identification card to clock the supervisor in and out for his shifts on several occasions. The subordinate employee was also found to have violated company policy for his role in assisting the supervisor and, following an administrative hearing on October 25, 2018, the subordinate employee was suspended for 30-days

U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General's investigations newsletter for the period of August 1 - September 30, 2018.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is conducting an investigation into allegations that the whistleblower was retaliated against for, among other things, communicating with Members of Congress regarding discrimination and retaliation against the whistleblower. The whistleblower alleged being subjected to retaliatory investigations by CGIS in violation of the Military Whistleblower Protection Act (MWPA). We recently learned that CGIS executed a search warrant against the whistleblower several months after the whistleblower retired from the Coast Guard, but soon after CGIS became aware of the OIG’s whistleblower retaliation investigation. Our information indicates that a CGIS agent obtained the search warrant in connection with a CGIS-directed investigation.

The OIG investigated allegations of misconduct and mismanagement at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI), a community college in Albuquerque, NM, operated and overseen by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). The complainant alleged that a SIPI manager engaged in sexual misconduct and harassment, and violated Federal travel regulations and U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) policy. The complainant also alleged that other SIPI managers and employees retaliated against her for filing complaints about the SIPI manager, failed to address employee complaints, failed to complete performance appraisals, engaged in improper hiring practices, circumvented the acquisition process, and misused a Government purchase card.We found that the SIPI manager had a sexual relationship with a SIPI student, but neither the college nor the BIE have a policy prohibiting sexual relationships between faculty and students. In addition, several of the manager’s colleagues and direct reports described the manager’s behavior in the workplace as confrontational, abrasive, and argumentative. We did not substantiate the allegations that the SIPI manager violated Federal travel regulations or DOI policy.We also found that SIPI managers did not complete performance appraisals for all employees and that the appraisal process at SIPI allowed managers to determine ratings-based cash awards for themselves. We did not substantiate the remaining allegations, including retaliation against the complainant.

We investigated an anonymous complaint alleging that Superintendent Ed Clark of Gettysburg National Military Park (GETT) violated ethics rules by soliciting funds on behalf of the Gettysburg Foundation, a non-Government organization; accepting Foundation-funded travel to events sponsored by the Foundation and those sponsored by other non-Government entities; and hosting a Foundation-funded dinner for his employees.We found that from February 2014 to October 2016, Clark traveled 27 times to attend events organized by the Foundation. We found that Clark committed criminal violations by submitting false travel vouchers and by accepting more than $23,000 in meals, lodging, and other in-kind gifts from non-Government organizations as compensation for his official services. In addition, he violated laws and regulations by failing to obtain required supervisory and ethics approval prior to taking these trips and by failing to report expenses accurately following his trips.We also found that his subordinate staff approved his travel authorizations, that he sometimes traveled without first submitting a travel authorization request, and that he requested full per diem reimbursement even though the Foundation paid for some of his meals during those trips.We found that Clark functioned as GETT’s liaison to the Foundation without prior supervisory approval or consulting with ethics officials. We did not find evidence that Clark solicited funds on GETT’s behalf, but we did find that Clark twice gave statements of support to the Foundation and the Civil War Trust that were included in solicitation letters addressed to members and potential donors.We also found that in September 2015 Clark asked the Foundation to pay for a dinner costing more than $6,000 that Clark and other National Park Service employees and Foundation guests attended, violating the ethics regulation that prohibits soliciting gifts from prohibited sources.We coordinated this investigation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and on October 17, 2018, we were informed that office had declined prosecution.

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.