FBI Employee Accused Of Theft For Claiming Hours He Didn’t Work


When a company doesn’t use a time clock to track their employees’ work hours, it can open the door to misinterpretation and exaggeration. However, things start to get suspicious when an employee claims to have worked nearly 900 hours over the course of four years, even though they were rarely in the office.

This was the case for an FBI official in Maryland. A former section chief at Quantico laboratory is now facing federal charges of theft after he claimed to work for 876 hours, and actually didn’t. The man, a laboratory division section chief, had worked at the FBI for 28 years until his February 2019 termination.

The scheme went on from 2015 to 2018. Investigators tracked the man’s comings and goings at FBI buildings, as well as login records on his computer. They also looked at emails, text messages, financial, travel, and phone records, and location data to see if the man truly worked the number of hours he claimed.

In many instances, the man would claim a full day of work. However, there was no evidence that he ever went inside one of the FBI offices in Quantico, Virginia or Washington, D.C. He was never logged into an FBI computer nor was there proof that he ever performed any official business.

In addition, there was no FBI facility where the man could work in southern Maryland, where he lived and ran a winery. He did not have a flexible work schedule and was not eligible for telework, so he could not work remotely.

In one instance, the man claimed to work an eight-hour day on the day after Thanksgiving in 2015. However, there was no record of him logging onto his FBI computer that day. In fact, he made phone calls from Irwin, Pennsylvania, allegedly by his “folks’ house.”

In October 2017, the man claimed he worked seven hours on one day, taking one hour of annual leave. However, he emailed his assistant earlier that day and said he would be out all day. Shortly after, the man emailed a vineyard equipment supplier, telling them he had taken off from his “day job.”

In August, the man was charged with theft of government property in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. He has not entered a plea. He has since been released, but is barred from international travel.

Contact a Maryland Criminal Defense Attorney Today

It’s not uncommon for people to fudge numbers in some aspects of their lives, such as taxes and time sheets. However, these schemes can sometimes go too far, constituting theft and fraud.

If you have been accused of theft or other crimes, seek help from the Columbia theft lawyers at The Law Offices of Todd K. Mohink, P.A. Our team can provide you with a solid defense and aggressive legal representation. Schedule a consultation by calling (410) 774-5987 or filling out the online form. We have two offices to serve you.

Resource:

cecildaily.com/news/ex-fbi-official-accused-of-claiming-hours-he-didnt-work/article_41e79819-ffa6-56ac-afd6-6eb3114a6d23.html

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