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.
U.S. Department of the Interior Law Enforcement’s Body Camera Policy and Practices Are Not Consistent With Industry Standards
We evaluated the Department’s draft body camera policy and bureau body camera practices and determined that they were not consistent with industry standards. We identified two leading authorities on law enforcement use of body cameras—the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Police Executive Research Forum—and concluded that by adopting their recommendations, the Department and bureaus will strengthen their body camera policies and practices.
Progress Made by the U.S. Department of the Interior in Implementing Government Charge Card Recommendations
We are required to conduct periodic risk assessments of agency purchase cards and convenience checks, combined integrated card programs, and travel card programs to analyze the risks of illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases and payments.
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.