Date Issued
Report Type
Investigation
External Entity
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Description
We investigated allegations that Stephen M. Barton, a senior Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) employee, served as the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) treasurer while he was a Federal employee. The investigation also revealed that FWS awarded WAFWA around $3 million in grants and cooperative agreements during the time period the FWS employee was working as the WAFWA treasurer. The FWS employee admitted to signing Federal grant applications on behalf of WAFWA using the name of another WAFWA officer.
Further, we found that the employee –
- in 2010, indicated on an Ethics Approval to Engage in Outside Work or Activity form that he did not receive income from WAFWA, when in fact WAFWA paid him almost $52,000 that same year;
- did not disclose his outside employment for 3 years;
- did not report the $377,363.18 in WAFWA income;
- acknowledged that the FWS job and WAFWA job created a conflict of interest and sometimes merged together;
- admitted to using FWS time, funds, office space, and other resources to perform work for WAFWA while on the clock for FWS; and
- scheduled flights and received per diem for personal trips, which cost the Government $96,087.
The U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of Virginia and the District of Idaho declined this case for prosecution. We provided our findings to the FWS Director for action deemed appropriate.
Joint Report
No
Agency Wide
Yes
Local File
Oversight Report File