Investigative Report of Alleged Inappropriate Behavior by the Director of the Office of Law Enforcement and Security

We investigated allegations made by an employee in the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Law Enforcement and Security (OLES) that OLES Director Tim Lynn had hugged her, touched her, and made comments that caused her to feel uncomfortable. She also alleged that after she reported Lynn’s unwanted behavior to his supervisor, Lynn embarrassed her in front of her coworkers and criticized her work to a colleague, actions she viewed as retaliation. 

 

Lynn denied the employee’s allegations. He said that touching people was in his nature and he had not intended to make her uncomfortable. While we confirmed that after Lynn’s supervisor counseled him, he made a sarcastic remark to the employee during a meeting and expressed displeasure to a colleague about her performance, we found that he took no other significant actions against her. 

 

During our investigation, we identified five other female departmental employees who alleged that Lynn had acted unprofessionally toward them in various ways. When confronted, Lynn admitted to some of the actions, but said he had not meant to make the women uncomfortable. 

 

We provided this report to the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget.