NPS Employee Violated Purchasing Rules
OIG investigated transaction irregularities on a Department of the Interior purchase card assigned to an employee at Nez Perce National Historic Park, National Park Service (NPS). The questionable purchases included a $17,000 charge at a pawn shop, two tuition payments at a local university, and purchases that appeared to have been structured to circumvent the micro purchase limit.
We confirmed that the employee purchased art for the park museum from a pawn shop for $17,000 and, at the direction of a supervisor, made tuition payments for other employees on the DOI purchase card.
NPS Senior Official Created the Appearance of Using his Public Office for Private Gain
OIG investigated allegations that a National Park Service (NPS) senior official in the Northeast Region used his position for personal gain when he requested unnecessary design and construction improvements to a park housing unit he expected to rent as his personal residence.
OSMRE Employee Attempted to Send PII to Personal Computer
OIG investigated an allegation that an employee with the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) attempted to send a spreadsheet containing personally identifiable information (PII) for over 180 DOI employees to his personal email account.
We found that the employee made repeated attempts to send the spreadsheet from his Government email account to his personal account, in violation of the DOI’s employee policy on network use.
Personally Identifiable Information of 182 DOI Employees Placed at Risk
This management advisory is to alert the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to an incident we discovered in which a DOI employee unnecessarily shared a spreadsheet containing the personally identifiable information (PII) of 182 employees from a number of DOI bureaus.
During a recent investigation, we learned that the DOI employee created the spreadsheet for use in internal training and then emailed it to a group of from several DOI bureaus. Because the group members all got the same spreadsheet, they were able to access the PII of employees in DOI bureaus outside their own.
Theft of Funds from the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma
OIG investigated allegations of theft from the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma (SNO) through counterfeit checks associated with an account that may have contained Federal funds.
Our investigation determined that multiple individuals from the Wichita, KS area cashed counterfeit checks totaling more than $20,000. The checks were made to look like they had been issued by legitimate Wichita businesses, however, the routing and bank account information printed on the checks resulted in the funds being withdrawn from an SNO bank account.
The U.S.
NPS Management Responded Appropriately to Sexual Misconduct Complaints
The OIG investigated whether National Park Service (NPS) management appropriately handled sexual misconduct complaints at a National Recreation Area (NRA) in Texas. The initial complainant reported that an employee at the NRA exposed himself to her and sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions between 2012 and 2014. The complainant alleged she reported the incidents to NPS management when they occurred, but they failed to take any action.
Our investigation did not find any evidence that the complainant reported the incidents to her supervisor as she reported in her complaint.
BIA Manager Allegedly Sexually Harassed Three Subordinate Employees
The OIG investigated allegations that a BIA manager had sexually harassed his direct subordinate.
The employee and two other women, both of whom had reported to the manager in the past, told us that he had subjected them to unwelcome and inappropriate touching or sexual remarks. The employee said the manager touched her inappropriately and made unwelcome remarks of a sexual nature to her. The second woman, also a BIA employee, said the manager had made inappropriate remarks to her when she worked for him.