Our Tax Dollars At Work

Oh have mercy - here we go again...

Officers at the Homeland Security agency that secures federal buildings went on huge personal spending sprees with their government credit cards yet authorities refuse to punish them or force them to refund taxpayers.

The Federal Protective Service (FPS) employees bought fancy clothes, gold coins, flat-screen televisions, gym memberships and athletic shoes with Uncle Sam’s money but they will face no consequences for their corrupt actions. Federal prosecutors have twice refused to charge them and the Department of Homeland Security won’t reprimand them, despite a government agency inspector general report documenting the wrongdoing.

Details of the cover up were made public recently by a Washington D.C. newspaper that obtained records through the Freedom of Information Act. It turns out that the feds have been quietly probing the scandal, involving 21 FPS employees, for five years. Three agents apparently resigned, four retired, five may face a “possible reprimand” and the rest will cruise as if nothing ever happened.

The FPS employees racked up thousands of dollars in unauthorized personal expenses on their government-issued purchase cards during a transition period in which the agency moved from the General Services Administration (GSA) to the Department of Homeland Security. A GSA Inspector General report said the employees took advantage of the transition period “to loot GSA resources by purchasing unauthorized goods.”

Charges include $60,000 in tuition payments, $32,000 for men’s suits at upscale stores, $15,000 for gold and silver coins and $8,000 in gym memberships. Additionally, the federal employees illegally used expense vouchers to get reimbursement for more than $9,000 in clothing, including an $800 tuxedo.

The overwhelming evidence and solid documentation led investigators at the inspector general’s office to refer the case to the Justice Department for prosecution, but the agency has twice refused to act. In 2005, prosecutors determined that FPS employees had not been appropriately advised of their rights. Prosecutors refused to provide a reason for turning the case down again in 2008

Ummm - correct me if I'm wrong, but if you or I did this, would we not end up in prison for embezzlement??? And why in heaven's name are prosecutors refusing to prosecute? Isn't that their job? How can they have "overwhelming evidence and solid documentation" and yet do absolutely nothing? These people must be made to, at the very LEAST, forfeit the ill gotten gains. I, however, think a prison term is also in order. And yet the feds do nothing.

The insanity in Washington knows no bounds.