A new bill called the “CREEPS Act” would force the federal government to fire employees found guilty of sexual assault.
The bill was introduced Thursday by Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican who has said she was sexually assaulted while in college.
The full title is the Compulsory Requirement to Eliminate Employees who are Perpetrators of Sexual Assault (CREEPS) Act.
“As a survivor, I understand the dire seriousness of addressing and combating sexual assault; it has no place in our society, including in the workplace,” Ernst said in a statement. “My straightforward bill will help ensure federal employees convicted of sexual assault—who are working on the taxpayer’s dime—are held accountable and face necessary consequences.”
The bill says “The head of the agency, office, or other entity employing a Federal employee who is convicted of a sexual assault offense committed while a Federal employee shall, after notice and an opportunity for a hearing, remove the Federal employee from the civil service.”
Civil service rules, unions, and an unwillingness by managers to file paperwork have led to numerous examples of criminals being hired by the federal government, or continuing to work there despite their criminal cases.
As the Daily Caller News Foundation reported:
- When elderly World War II veterans go to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to receive urgent care, they may be greeted by child molesters, ex-convicts, men with face tattoos and gun-wielding rapists. As of December 2016, 11 sex offenders listed the John D. Dingell VA Hospital in Detroit as their work address. Within the VA’s regional office for Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, 30 sex predators work at nine facilities, according to the records.
- The VA “counseled” one of its top officials when it found porn on his computer, then promoted him shortly after. That meant Jon Wooditch was able to go on to reoffend, masturbating in an all-glass conference room on a daily basis so that tourists could see. Local police, meanwhile, questioned him about sticking his head out the window and masturbating at his wife’s best friend after her husband died; Wooditch lashed out at police that he was a very important federal government employee. Wooditch retired with a full pension and the government went to great lengths to protect his reputation, concealing a report about the incident despite Freedom of Information Act requests.
- The VA hired a felon fresh out of jail for attacking a judge’s daughter in the shower and cutting her brakes. When John C. Perrys was arrested in Florida 2005, he was wearing a bullet-proof vest and had a shovel and a parachute cord. The VA says it “properly vetted” him, called him “exemplary,” and said it has promoted him to a top role in human resources, the department in charge of evaluating the suitability of other employees.
- At the San Juan VA hospital, a registered sex offender also works in a key human resources role. “There’s no children in [the hospital], so they figure I could not harm anyone here,” Tito Santiago Martinez told this reporter.
- Martinez’ HR department then rubber-stamped the hiring of Edwin Trinidad Nieves after he was convicted in 2009 of intentional child abuse and felony lewd acts with a vulnerable person. The VA cares for vulnerable people. A hospital spokesman did not provide justification for the hire.
- The Anchorage, Alaska VA hospital hired a convicted child molester (Kevin Kenja Campbell) and then kept him on the rolls as a health aide while he repeatedly reoffended. It also held a job open for its accountant (Michael N. Alvin) while he served a prison term for killing a man. The employee union local president at the time, Kevin McGee, admitted to intervening to make it happen. “I said give him a chance, why not,” McGee told the DCNF. Another employee said Alvin was unrepentant: “He’s as arrogant about it as anyone I’ve ever met. Not ashamed that he killed a guy.”
- The military’s director of diversity, Clarence A. Johnson, presided over a department full of numerous incidents of violence, where three women observed a male worked “routinely touch and massage the genital area of his pants while speaking to them.” Johnson — who inappropriately funneled federal funds to black activists — merely “counseled” a male employee after he pushed a female colleague and made her cry.
Ernst has also worked on legislation to improve reporting and data collection on incidents in the military and the federal government.
Sex offenders employed by the VA in Indiana/Michigan/Ohio as of December 2016
 | DARRYL WOODS John D. Dingell VA Medical Center (Detroit, MI) VA job: $43k food service worker, 2014- Crime: CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT ASSAULT WITH INTENT TO COMMIT SEXUAL PENETRATION 1994 |
 | RALPH WOOD Indianapolis VA Medical Center VA job: Misc clerk, 2009- Crime: Child molesting. Sentenced to 5 years with 3 years suspended. Convicted 8/30/2006, released 6/28/2008. |
 | KENNETH D JOHNSON VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System (Ann Arbor, MI) VA job: Mail, has worked at VA since at least 2013 and possibly longer Crime: CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT – FOURTH DEGREE (Person Thirteen to Fifteen) Convicted 2008 |
 | WILLIES HUNT Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center (Cleveland, OH) VA job: Custodian, 2015 Crime: Child pornography Convicted 2008 |
 | MATTHEW HARKNESS John D. Dingell VA Medical Center (Detroit, MI) VA job: Custodial, 2009- Crime: CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT – THIRD DEGREE Convicted 1995 |
 | ANTOINE HALL Dayton VA Medical Center (Dayton, OH) VA job: Supply clerical and technician, 2012-2015 Crime: PANDERING SEXUALLY ORIENTED MATERIAL INVOLVING A MINOR Convicted 2014 |
 | DANE FULTZ Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center (Saginaw, MI) VA job: 2014-, SUPPLY CLERICAL AND TECHNICIAN Crime: CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT – THIRD DEGREE (Person Thirteen Through Fifteen) Convicted 2003 |
 | THOMAS DEJOURNETT Dayton VA Medical Center (Dayton, OH) VA job: Medical support assistance, 2005- Crime: Rape and kidnapping, multiple male and female victims, Habitual Sex Offender Convicted 1981 |
 | DANIEL CARTHANE John D. Dingell VA Medical Center (Detroit, MI) VA job: Clerk and assistant, 2015 Crime: CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT – FIRST DEGREE Convicted 2007 |
 | DAVID ALLISON Indianapolis VA Medical Center VA job: Medical support assistance, 2010-2015 Crime: Child molesting Convicted in 2007 and sentenced to “5 YEARS SUSPENDED, 3 YEARS PRO” |
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.