Former high-ranking Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employee Larry Denny was paid $122,000 for work he never did, according to an investigative report.
The Department of the Interior’s inspector general found that from “July 2012 through March 2013, Denny did no work for the Federal Government, but he was compensated… approximately $112,000 in Federal wages, benefits, and a performance bonus.” Denny was aided by John Lyon, BLM’s director for eastern states.
“Lyon instructed other employees to not discuss or contact Denny and rebuffed any inquiries by subordinates as to Denny’s whereabouts,” the IG reported. The report also noted that “Denny worked for the Chippewa Cree Tribe and received approximately $79,000 in compensation,” which he did not disclose to BLM.
Lyon helped Denny get paid for 1,472 hours “of time, including regular hours, sick leave, annual leave, and Federal holidays” — of course, he was never actually working during this time and should not have been collecting any benefits.
A federal grand jury eventually indicted both men for wire fraud, making false claims and stealing government property. Denny was indicted on additional charges and sentenced to one year in prison. Denny and Lyon also had to pay a $74,385.99 fine for ripping off taxpayers — though that’s only a portion of what Denny stole from taxpayers.
Denny is not the first federal employee to collect money for work he never did. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had a similar controversy in 2014 when it was discovered former employee John Beale stole $900,000 from taxpayers after he retired. Beale also pretended to be in the CIA, taking time off on the taxpayer dime.
Beale retired from the agency in 2013, but it was eventually discovered he was still collecting a paycheck even though he wasn’t working. The scandal gained more steam after it was discovered he had been defrauding the EPA for more than a decade.
In a 13-year period, Beale stole $886,186 from taxpayers in time and attendance fraud, retention incentives, fraudulent billing and parking fraud. From 2000 to 2012, Beale skipped at least 616 days of work.
The EPA has also had issues with paying employees who were placed on administrative leave. The agency’s IG found “eight employees totaled 20,926 hours and cost the government an estimated $1,096,868” while they were on leave. Each employee “was on extended administrative leave for four or more months,” the IG reported, adding that “four of the eight employees” were on leave for more than a year.
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