Description of document: Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of the Inspector General (OIG) Weekly Activity Reports, 2011-2014 Request date: 03-June-2014 Released date: 26-June-2014 Posted date: 16-February-2015 Source of document: Freedom of Information Act Request Department of Transportation FOIA Requester Service Center 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., 7th Floor Washington, DC 20590 Fax: 202-366-1975 (Attn: FOIA Requester Service Center) Online FOIA Request Form The governmentattic.org web site (“the site”) is noncommercial and free to the public. The site and materials made available on the site, such as this file, are for reference only. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals have made every effort to make this information as complete and as accurate as possible, however, there may be mistakes and omissions, both typographical and in content. 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GovernmentAttic.org is not responsible for the contents of documents published on the website. 0 U.S. Department of Office of Inspecto r General Transportation Washington, D.C. 20590 Office of the Secretary of Transportation June 26, 2014 RE: FOIA Control No: Fl-2014-0086 This letter is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated June 3, 2014, sent to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of the Inspector General (OIG). You requested a copy of the DOT OIG "Weekly Activity Reports for the time period January 1, 2011 through the present." My office does not prepare "Weekly Activity Reports," however, we do prepare "Activity Reports'' on a monthly basis. Please find attached our 2011 through May 2014 Monthly Activity Reports. There are 264 pages of documents responsive to your request and we are providing all pages to you without redaction. Please let me know if this is not acceptable. This letter closes your FOIA request and no further action is contemplated regarding this matter. The FOIA gives you the right to appeal adverse determinations to the appeal official for the agency. The appeal official for the OIG is the Assistant Inspector General Brian A. Dettelbach. Appeals to Mr. Dettelbach should be prominently marked as a "FOIA Appeal" addressed to: U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, ih Floor West (J3), 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20590. If you prefer, your appeal may be sent via electronic mail to [email protected]. An appeal must be received within 45 days of the date of this determination and should contain any information and arguments you wish to rely on. The Assistant Inspector General's determination will be administratively final. For your information, Congress excluded three discrete categories of law enforcement and national security records from the requirements of the FOIA. See 5 U.S.C. 552(c) (2006 & Supp. IV 2010). This response is limited to those records that are subject to the requirements of the FOIA. This is a standard notification that is given to all our requesters and should not be taken as an indication that excluded records do, or do not, exist. 2 If you have any questions regarding this message, please contact me at either (202) 366-6131 or by email at angel.simmons({V oig.dot.gov and reference the FOIA control number above. You may also contact our FOIA Public Liaison, David Wonnenberg, at either (202)366-1544 or [email protected] to discuss any aspect of your request. Sincerely, [it ~~'j'~L<t>U',~ Angel Simmons OIG FOIA/Privacy Act Officer Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General Office of Inspector General Monthly Activity Report Activities since January 1, 2011 Subscribe by email , Twitter or RSS to get live updates. • 01.24.2011 Quality Control Review of Single Audit on the Chicago Transit Authority On January 24, we issued a quality control review report on a single audit performed by Crowe Horwath LLP on the Chicago Transit Authority's use of United States Department of Transportation grants for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2009. During this period, the Authority expended about $529 million from the Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Highway Administration. Crowe Horwath LLP rendered an unqualified (clean) opinion on the Authority's financial statements and identified internal control and compliance deficiencies related to Davis-Bacon Act requirements and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act reporting. We determined that Crowe Horwath's work generally met the necessary requirements. We found nothing to indicate that Crowe Horwath's opinion on the financial statements or reports on internal control and compliance were inappropriate or unreliable. • 01.21.2011 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Supervisor Charged of Taking Bribes from Company Officials On January 21, 2011, James H. Wood, a supervisor of the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) Buffalo, New York, field office, was arrested and charged with accepting bribes in his official duties from or on behalf of motor carriers. The offense carries a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $250,000. Our investigation revealed that Mr. Wood accepted bribes from safety consultants for Canadian commercial trucking companies who paid him to provide inside information that enabled some trucking companies to avoid or delay inspections of their vehicles. Mr. Wood allegedly also accepted cash bribes to initiate compliance audits that could put a competitor company out of business, and at times Mr. Wood helped trucking firms get friendly audits that allowed companies to keep potentially unsafe vehicles on the road. A cooperating witness admitted to paying approximately $70,000 to Mr. Wood over the past two years for information and assistance. The OIG is working closely with FMCSA to assist them in taking follow-up actions. This investigation is being worked jointly with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. www.oig.dot.gov Page | 1 Note: Indictments, informations, and criminal complaints are only accusations by the government, all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. • 01.21.2011 Former New York Construction Company Vice President Sentenced for Soliciting Kickbacks from Subcontractor On January 21, 2011, Joseph Iorio, former Vice President of Construction for Yonkers Contracting Company (Yonkers), was sentenced in U.S. District Court Brooklyn, New York, to three months home confinement, five years probation, 500 hours of community service and ordered to pay a $500 special assessment for soliciting kickbacks from a trucking subcontractor on construction projects. Mr. Iorio was convicted at trial on September 23, 2010. The investigation revealed that between March and October 2008, Mr. Iorio solicited kick-backs from a trucking company subcontractor in connection with at least three New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority construction projects on which Yonkers was bidding. One of the projects included a Federal Highway Administration funded project, on which Yonkers was bidding around $346 million. Mr. Iorio's arranged for the trucking company owner to build into his price proposals $.25-$.50 a ton in kickbacks payable to Mr. Iorio by checks, made out to JJA Construction, a business entity associated with Mr. Iorio, and to keep their arrangement discrete and hidden from Yonkers. In exchange, Mr. Iorio would use his influence to ensure the trucking company was chosen for the sub-contract work if Yonkers was awarded the projects. This investigation was conducted jointly with Department of Labor Office of Inspector General and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Office of Inspector General. • 01.20.2011 Florida Man Charged with Illegally Transporting Hazardous Material On January 20, 2011, Hobert H. Gibson, was charged in U.S. District Court, Tampa, Florida, with Conspiracy, and Transportation of Hazardous Materials for his role in illegally transporting stolen gasoline and diesel fuel from underground reservoir tanks to numerous service stations. The investigation revealed that Mr. Gibson routinely used a hose, batteries, pump, and other equipment to siphoned gasoline and diesel fuel into three unapproved tanks, with a capacity to hold over 1,600 gallons of fuel, which were mounted on an unmarked box trailer and pulled by a pickup truck. Mr. Gibson is alleged to have illegally transported the fuel to his place of business and to select customers in Polk County, Florida, without properly placarding the motor vehicle and without possessing a commercial driver's license with a HAZMAT endorsement. This investigation was conducted jointly with the Polk County Sheriff's Office with substantial assistance from Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration. Note: Indictments, informations, and criminal complaints are only accusations by the government, all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. www.oig.dot.gov Page | 2 • 01.20.2011 Massachusetts Man Indicted for Illegally Transporting Ammunition Primers on Passenger Aircraft On January 20, Orville A. Braham, was indicted in U.S. District Court, Miami, Florida, with four counts of illegally transporting ammunition primers in his luggage on a passenger aircraft. In December 2010, Mr. Braham boarded an American Airlines flight with two pieces of luggage that contained hundreds of concealed .45 caliber ammunition primers, an explosive and hazardous material. One of the pieces of luggage exploded and injured a baggage handler who was unloading the luggage at Miami International Airport.