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Sixteen of 18 wildlife officers accused by the state inspector general of hunting while on the job returned to work today after the Ohio Department of Natural Resources cleared them of wrongdoing.
The officers were placed on paid leave on Dec. 13 after the office of Inspector General Randall J. Meyer concluded that they hunted deer while being paid or falsified records to obtain pay to which they were not entitled.
DNR cleared the officers after an investigation involving interviews and a review of telephone logs and vehicle GPS-tracking data, leading to a conclusion that “shoddy time-keeping and accountability” led to Meyer’s conclusions.
One of the officers retired since Meyer’s report was released and another officer has been referred for disciplinary action, said DNR spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle. She declined to immediately identify the officer facing discipline.
The inspector general’s office disagrees with DNR’s findings that only one of the officers apparently committed misconduct, said Carl Enslen, a deputy inspector general and Meyer’s spokesman.
“We stand by the report we put together. Their response does not alter our position,” Enslen said.
The inspector general’s report claimed that some of the wildlife officers killed as many as three deer on state time between 2009 and early 2011 in a comparison of deer-harvest records with officer work records.
The accused officers were from Adams, Belmont, Butler, Champaign, Columbiana, Defiance, Fayette, Franklin, Gallia, Geauga, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Mercer, Sandusky, Stark, Vinton and Wyandot counties.
McCorkle said DNR reformed how officers, who often work flex time, account for their work time to ensure more accountability before Meyer’s report was issued.
The cleared wildlife officers, who had been assigned to administrative duties, were dispatched this morning to district offices to pick up their firearms and state vehicles, she said.
Citing legal advice, the officers had refused to be interviewed by inspector general investigators, but consented to interviews with DNR officials, McCorkle said.
The probe was sparked by an earlier investigation that resulted in the criminal convictions of two DNR wildlife officers who were deer hunting while on duty in Brown County. They are no longer with the department.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/02/04/odnr-employees-file-lawsuit.html
The officers were placed on paid leave on Dec. 13 after the office of Inspector General Randall J. Meyer concluded that they hunted deer while being paid or falsified records to obtain pay to which they were not entitled.
DNR cleared the officers after an investigation involving interviews and a review of telephone logs and vehicle GPS-tracking data, leading to a conclusion that “shoddy time-keeping and accountability” led to Meyer’s conclusions.
One of the officers retired since Meyer’s report was released and another officer has been referred for disciplinary action, said DNR spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle. She declined to immediately identify the officer facing discipline.
The inspector general’s office disagrees with DNR’s findings that only one of the officers apparently committed misconduct, said Carl Enslen, a deputy inspector general and Meyer’s spokesman.
“We stand by the report we put together. Their response does not alter our position,” Enslen said.
The inspector general’s report claimed that some of the wildlife officers killed as many as three deer on state time between 2009 and early 2011 in a comparison of deer-harvest records with officer work records.
The accused officers were from Adams, Belmont, Butler, Champaign, Columbiana, Defiance, Fayette, Franklin, Gallia, Geauga, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Mercer, Sandusky, Stark, Vinton and Wyandot counties.
McCorkle said DNR reformed how officers, who often work flex time, account for their work time to ensure more accountability before Meyer’s report was issued.
The cleared wildlife officers, who had been assigned to administrative duties, were dispatched this morning to district offices to pick up their firearms and state vehicles, she said.
Citing legal advice, the officers had refused to be interviewed by inspector general investigators, but consented to interviews with DNR officials, McCorkle said.
The probe was sparked by an earlier investigation that resulted in the criminal convictions of two DNR wildlife officers who were deer hunting while on duty in Brown County. They are no longer with the department.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/02/04/odnr-employees-file-lawsuit.html
