Investigative Reports

An Amtrak Maintenance of Way Equipment Repairman, based in Rensselaer, New York, violated company policy by regularly disabling the Lytx camera in his company-owned vehicle by replacing a functioning fuse in the camera with a blown one.The repairman admitted to disabling the camera, as well as covering the camera with a towel on a regular basis during the entire duration of his overnight shifts. During our interview with the employee, we also found inappropriate photographs on his company-owned mobile device. The employee resigned in lieu of his disciplinary hearing on March 1, 2023.

Johnathan Pena, a medical marketer based in Los Angeles, California, was sentenced on February 27, 2023, to time served and three years’ probation for conspiracy to commit health care fraud and honest services mail fraud, as well as a violation of the Travel Act. Pena was also ordered to forfeit $134,336.78.Pena brokered kickbacks and bribe payments to doctors in exchange for their referrals of compounded medications, durable medical equipment, and other health care goods to certain providers. Specifically, our investigation found that Pena worked as a marketer for TYY Consulting, Inc., to provide medically unnecessary compounded drug prescriptions to Precise Compounding Pharmacy that were reimbursed by health care benefit programs, including Amtrak’s plan. As a result of the scheme, Amtrak’s insurance providers were fraudulently charged approximately $22,000.

Ketrick Barron, a former Amtrak General Foreman, based in Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty on February 21, 2023, in U.S. District Court, District of Maryland, to one misdemeanor count of theft of government property after our investigation found that he misused an Amtrak-issued General Services Administration fuel card to fuel his personal vehicles. The total fuel purchase amounted to $6,580.20. His sentencing is pending.

OIG Investigations initiated this Special Inquiry in response to concerns that “Region II acted inappropriately and without authority with respect to performing independent spent fuel storage installation inspections,” that Region II failed to adhere to NRC policy by allowing resident inspectors who were not qualified the agency’s ISFSI inspection program to inspect ISFSIs, and that Region II deviated from the requirements in agency procedures for inspecting campaigns during which NRC licensees loaded spent fuel to dry cask storage. The OIG found that Region II improperly deviated from NRC policies when it authorized resident inspectors who were not qualified to inspect ISFSIs to inspect repeat spent fuel loading campaigns to dry cask storage. Furthermore, data from 2018 and 2019 show that collectively Region II’s resident inspectors spent only about 20 percent of the number of hours anticipated for ISFSI inspections stated in the applicable inspection procedure. The limited inspection hours charged appear to show that Region II did not accomplish all inspection requirements identified in the procedure. Region II’s actions potentially resulted in missed opportunities to adequately evaluate whether licensees met the NRC’s regulatory requirements. For example, from January 2021 to December 2022, after Region II began using properly qualified inspectors and following all the requirements in the applicable inspection procedure, those qualified inspectors identified numerous violations and other non-compliances during ISFSI inspections that could have been identified earlier. The OIG did not identify an immediate safety concern related to ISFSIs. The OIG did find, however, that Region II’s deviation from NRC policies resulted in licensees loading significant numbers of casks during repeat loading campaigns, from 2012 through 2020, that did not receive—and still have not received—adequate NRC inspections to ensure the licensees met regulatory requirements for long-term storage and retrievability.

A clerk based in Beech Grove, Indiana, resigned from employment on February 16, 2023, prior to his administrative hearing. Our investigation found that the employee violated company policies by misusing his company-owned computer and email address for his personally owned business by downloading unauthorized software onto the company’s workstation. He also used his company email during regular work hours to solicit Amtrak employees and others to join his business ventures.

A civil settlement agreement was finalized between the United States Department of Justice and an Amtrak contractor on February 14, 2023. The contractor agreed to pay Amtrak $54,567 out of retainage held by Amtrak and an additional $9,822 to the United States for overbilling overhead rates above the maximum allowed for work performed on the New Jersey High Speed Rail Improvement Program from 2013 to 2017. Separate from the civil settlement agreement, the contractor also paid Amtrak $10,561 for overbilling overhead rates on the same project during the period from 2018 to 2020.

A Systems Engineer based in Philadelphia violated policies by installing unapproved software on two company-owned computers. The software provides a method to remotely administer workstations and could potentially be used to compromise computer systems. Amtrak management responded to our report on February 10, 2023, stating that the employee had been counseled. In addition, the company implemented several corrective action plans in response to our observations in our report.

Umer Hassan Mir, of South Amboy, New Jersey, was sentenced on February 8, 2023, in U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, to five months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay restitution of $78,000. Mir pleaded guilty on July 12, 2022, to entering fraudulent charges on General Service Administration fuel cards and other corporate credit cards, including at least four cards assigned to Amtrak vehicles. Mir made the fraudulent charges from February 2018 through August 2021 while working as the manager and attendant at a gas station in Metuchen, New Jersey. Mir would manually enter credit card information he collected during legitimate fuel transactions into the point-of-sale terminal at the station and withdraw cash from the register in the amount of the fraudulent transactions. He used the funds from the fraudulent transactions to pay for personal expenses and to pay another gas station employee for working extra hours on Mir’s behalf.Agents and personnel from the Amtrak Office of Inspector General; General Services Administration OIG; and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Philadelphia Division, investigated this case.

Alain Galette, a resident of Miami, Florida, was sentenced on January 31, 2023, in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, to 13 months in prison, two years of probation, and was ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to the Small Business Administration. He previously pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in relation to his application for a Payroll Program Protection (PPP) loan and in obtaining an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) in the amount of $149,900. The PPP loan was in the amount of $163,577 but was denied. Our investigation found that Galette used an invalid social security number and included other false information on the PPP and EIDL applications. Upon receipt of the EIDL funds, Galette did not use the money for authorized purposes.

An Amtrak trainmaster based in New Orleans, Louisiana, was terminated from employment on January 27, 2023, after our investigation found that the employee violated company policies by intentionally submitting an application containing false statements and information to the Small Business Administration in order to qualify for a CARES Act Economic Injury Disaster Loan for a business that does not exist. Additionally, when interviewed by our agents, the employee failed to be forthright, honest, or cooperative. We also found that the employee violated company policy by not disclosing any outside business activities on his certificates of compliance.

We found a former nonprofit official misused funds received under a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program assisting in recovering endangered or threatened species.