# Federal worker fakes spy career; gets paid for not working **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 7, 2013, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233 "2013-09-07T04:26:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/1 "2013-09-07T04:26:39Z")
My new personal [hero](http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/former-senior-epa-adviser-beale-expected-to-plead-guilty-in-900000-pay-fraud/2013/09/04/6a5ce06c-1574-11e3-be6e-dc6ae8a5b3a8_story.html). This guy just stopped coming to work for long periods of time, told his supervisors he was doing spy stuff, and they bought it! > [@](#): > > Over the past 12 years, John C. Beale was often away from his job as a high-level staffer at the Environmental Protection Agency. He cultivated an air of mystery and explained his lengthy absences by telling his bosses that he was doing top-secret work, including for the CIA. > > For years, apparently, no one checked. He’s now up on charges of having “stolen” nearly $1 million in unearned salary. In some ways, I’d be a little insulted if my supervisors considered me so useless that they couldn’t be bothered to check on my absence and apparently didn’t care that much about how much work I was getting done. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/2 "2013-09-07T07:00:19Z")
Is the CIA going to disavow him? He really should have had an escape plan, but his supervisors are so stupid that if might not even be fraud because no reasonable person would believe it, which is a defense to fraud. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/3 "2013-09-07T09:47:39Z")
Now that I think back, when I was still a reservist in my early civil service career, I don’t think I ever had to provide proof when I did my 2 weeks of annual active duty. I just told my boss I would be on military leave, and that was that. He trusted that I wasn’t lying. On the other hand, I was in other organizations where supervisors were absolutely nuts about charge code accuracy - real sticklers for having employees charge their time against specific accounts - that type of boss would have caught this guy before he got started. I can’t see there \*ever \*being a defense for fraud, but I’m not a lawyer, so what do I know… ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/4 "2013-09-07T10:03:01Z")
If this guy is guilty of fraud, then so are his supervisors. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/5 "2013-09-07T11:40:05Z")
He’s a better CIA agent than the real ones. At least he’s not torturing people or bombing funerals. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/6 "2013-09-07T18:01:24Z")
Is his name George Castanza? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/7 "2013-09-07T20:21:20Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > If this guy is guilty of fraud, then so are his supervisors. Why? if they were taken in by it, where’s the fraud? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/8 "2013-09-07T21:37:33Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Why? if they were taken in by it, where’s the fraud? It is such a transparently false premise, any supervisor must be derelict to be taken in by it. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/9 "2013-09-07T21:54:00Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > It is such a transparently false premise, any supervisor must be derelict to be taken in by it. These people work for the government. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/10 "2013-09-07T22:02:03Z")
Wouldn’t there be some way to, you know, check? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/11 "2013-09-07T22:07:46Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Wouldn’t there be some way to, you know, check? That’s on a need-to-know basis. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/12 "2013-09-07T22:28:19Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > It is such a transparently false premise, any supervisor must be derelict to be taken in by it. being derelict is grounds for discipline, but doesn’t amount to the specific intent of committing fraud. ---
**Author:** ![agnesnitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@agnesnitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agnesnitt)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/13 "2013-09-07T23:19:37Z")
In the 80’s when I took over as a first time personnel officer in my new reserve unit, my predecessor told me a cautionary tale of a reservist in our unit who had done much the same as the guy in the article. He’d filed pay paperwork and said he was working for some ‘black ops’ program so the unit had to sign his vouchers to keep his ‘secret travel’ undercover. Then the unit got a new member who had been in a real program with classified pay and travel, who threw out the BS flag. The whole thing collapsed and the guy was prosecuted for fraud. Whoever signs fraudulent pay or timecard paperwork (even innocently) can be prosecuted as well. Not for fraud, but for mismanagement of government funds, which was why my predecessor was warning me to be very careful about roll call and travel. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/14 "2013-09-09T22:29:49Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > My new personal [hero](http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/former-senior-epa-adviser-beale-expected-to-plead-guilty-in-900000-pay-fraud/2013/09/04/6a5ce06c-1574-11e3-be6e-dc6ae8a5b3a8_story.html). This guy just stopped coming to work for long periods of time…He’s now up on charges of having “stolen” nearly $1 million in unearned salary. > > In some ways, I’d be a little insulted if my supervisors considered me so useless that they couldn’t be bothered to check on my absence and apparently didn’t care that much about how much work I was getting done. > [@agnesnitt](#): > > … > Whoever signs fraudulent pay or timecard paperwork (even innocently) can be prosecuted as well. Not for fraud, but for mismanagement of government funds, which was why my predecessor was warning me to be very careful about roll call and travel. Can I take it, then, that he was an hourly employee even at such a high level? That seems odd. I thought salaried people were paid to do a job, and apparently the job was getting done well enough that nothing was done for a long time. So what’s the problem? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/15 "2013-09-09T23:09:17Z")
Salaried employees are often still responsible for working a certain number of hours. I’m salaries, but if I want to work less than 40 hours or so a week, if be expected to use PTO or vacation. ---
**Author:** ![agnesnitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@agnesnitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agnesnitt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/16 "2013-09-10T02:37:45Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Can I take it, then, that he was an hourly employee even at such a high level? That seems odd. I thought salaried people were paid to do a job, and apparently the job was getting done well enough that nothing was done for a long time. So what’s the problem? The fed government is unique. You’re a salaried employee, but you have to work an 80 hour a week schedule and fill out a time card since your leave is doled out by the fraction of an hour (quarter hour for the AF, tenth of an hour for the Navy). So you earn 1 full hour of annual leave every x number of hours (depending on how long you’ve worked for the gov), if you work less than an 80 hour week you have to account for the unused hours as one or more of the 12 categories of leave (admin, military, annual, sick, comp, credit, travel comp…). This complex system to outsiders, makes perfect sense to the feds. Say someone gets their ‘work’ finished in 6 hours. They don’t get to go home early as they would in private industry. They are accountable to the taxpayer to work 8 hours so they do 8 hours or they take leave. And believe me, there’s plenty of ‘non-work’ stuff to do. Mandatory training for example is the bane of my existence. This is required BY LAW and Mein Gott! does Congress pile it on. Contract training, constitutional law, counter-terrorism, sexual harrassment, EEO, travel in foreign countries, counter intelligence, OPSEC, supervisory…I don’t make this stuff up, 2 or 3 times a week I get a notice of mandatory training. Time card fraud is a big no-no. Want to start another thread, have I got stories about people dismissed for time card fraud. And travel voucher fraud. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/17 "2013-09-10T02:48:28Z")
> [@agnesnitt](#): > > The fed government is unique. You’re a salaried employee, but you have to work an 80 hour a week schedule and fill out a time card 40? I do know some feds who work 80 hours a week, but they’re not your typical career fed. If only… ---
**Author:** ![agnesnitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@agnesnitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agnesnitt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/18 "2013-09-10T03:48:47Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > 40? > I do know some feds who work 80 hours a week, but they’re not your typical career fed. If only… Sorry, I meant 80 hours a pay period (two weeks). 40 hours a week. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/19 "2013-09-10T18:12:42Z")
An expert witness in a $100M+ lawsuit claimed to be an actuary despite having no recognized actuarial credentials, based on his claim that he had been [trained as an actuary by the CIA](http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2008/08/04/story13.html?page=all). The CIA denied any knowledge of this, but the guy’s response was “well what did you _think_ they were going to say?” It’s not at all clear why the CIA would need to set up their own secret actuarial training program. But the line worked for this guy, to the tune of over $200K for that one lawsuit alone. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federal-worker-fakes-spy-career-gets-paid-for-not-working/668233/20 "2013-09-12T02:35:31Z")
What did he say when he was caught? My guess: [QUOTE=Maxwell Smart] Sorry About That, Chief [/QUOTE]