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 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.

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.

We investigated whether the boundaries of Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) were modified, at least in part, for the personal financial benefit of former Utah State Representative Michael Noel, who owned property along the GSENM border and who is currently the executive director of the Kane County (UT) Water Conservancy District. Our investigation focused on: 1. Whether the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) followed an established process for assessing proposed boundaries for national monuments, including the proposed GSENM boundary modifications 2.

The OIG investigated an allegation that a National Park Service (NPS) contractor in the U.S. Virgin Islands attempted to provide a cash bribe to an NPS employee.