DAVENPORT, IA- On December 4, 2015, Gerald W. Ledford, age 57, of Clinton, Iowa, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Stephanie M. Rose to four years' probation, with the first six months in home confinement, after pleading guilty to transmitting a threatening communication, announced Acting United States Attorney Kevin E. VanderSchel. Ledford was also ordered to pay $100 to the Crime Victims Fund, to have no contact with the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center or any of its employees, to allow a search of his residence under certain conditions, and to restrict his possession of a computer or access to the Internet without prior approval by the United States Probation Office.

On October 20, 2014, an employee of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC) discovered two messages posted to the ISBCC's Facebook page. The ISBCC is located in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and is a member of the New England Muslim community. According to its website, the ISBCC is not just a mosque, but a dynamic cultural center that is designed to serve the entire community by offering a variety of educational, spiritual, and social services. The first post made derogatory statements about "Mohamed," and made threats to harm Muslims. The second post also made a threat of violence toward Muslims.

The Facebook page posting these two messages displayed the name "Gerry Ledford" and was identified with a unique account identification number. This account was deactivated on November 14, 2014. A "friend" of this account was another Facebook publically viewable page under the name of "Gerry.ledford.3," also with a unique account identification number. Search warrants were obtained for both of these Facebook accounts. Based on information obtained from these search warrants these accounts had certain personal identifiers, such as date of birth, hometown, current city of residence, educational history and digital photographs that were consistent with the same personally identifiable information about Gerald Ledford. Both accounts logged in from an identified Internet Protocol (IP) address identified to a known family member of Ledford's. Information obtained from the search warrants showed that one of these identified Facebook accounts conducted a search for the ISBCC on October 19, 2014. A day before the posted messages, one of these Facebook accounts was used to search for information about the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" and two minutes later a search for information on the "Islamic Society of Boson Cultural Center (ISBCC)." Additional searches were conducted on similar topics both before and after October 19, 2014.

Gerald Ledford admitted in his plea proceeding that he was the individual user registered to these Facebook accounts, that on or about October 19, 2014, he knowingly posted these two threatening messages, and that he individually selected this victim because of the religious affiliation of ISBCC. Gerald Ledford further admitted that he knew that these two messages would be viewed as a threat.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Clinton, Iowa, Police Department. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa and the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts.

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa is investigating the compressed natural gas station in Afghanistan that cost the U.S. taxpayers $43 million, as much as $42.5 million more than it should have, and the $800 million Pentagon task force that oversaw the construction.  The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction is releasing a letter to the Secretary of Defense regarding the security and housing expenditures of the task force, called the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations.  Please contact SIGAR for details.  Grassley made the following comment on the letter.

"I hope this inquiry is the beginning of much more insight into how this task force operated. So far, the Defense Department hasn't been forthcoming with task force documents.  The concerns raised in SIGAR's letter don't inspire confidence that the task force took care with spending.  For example, the assertion that task force employees had to have outside housing and security to set an example for private companies sounds like U.S. Grade A baloney.  I look forward to learning more about how the task force operated and what, if any, results it achieved in exchange for spending $800 million."

WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today released a report from his oversight and investigative staff analyzing 18 federal agencies' responses to his inquiries on paid administrative leave and endorsed the report's recommendations for reining in this largely unproductive, expensive practice.

"Everything I've seen shows a Wild West environment among agencies on paid administrative leave," Grassley said.  "According to this report, and others related to it, every agency uses this leave differently.  Some agencies use it too extensively, and the taxpayers get short-changed.  The statutory and regulatory vacuum on the use of paid leave has contributed to this problem.  As the report recommends, Congress should step in with legislation to fill the void. The legislation would make clear when paid administrative leave is allowable and when employees should be on the job instead.  This kind of leave shouldn't be a crutch for management to avoid making tough personnel decisions or a club for wrongdoers to use against whistleblowers."

The report analyzes responses from 18 agencies to an inquiry from Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa in October 2014.  The report finds that agencies use the paid leave designation broadly, "for everything from negotiating collective bargaining agreements to returning from active military duty to investigating allegations of employee misconduct."  This is because agencies' policies on when this type of leave can be used and the appropriate length of time for paid leave vary widely.

Open-ended leave is expensive and unproductive for taxpayers, the report finds.   Seventeen agencies spent almost $80.6 million to place employees on paid administrative leave for one month or more in fiscal year 2014.  That amount might be lower than the reality due to the imprecise calculations some agencies provided.

Although requested by Grassley in his inquiry letters, agencies did not always provide sufficient justification for placing employees on administrative leave for more than one year, and their justifications varied widely.  When reasons were provided, they were vague, such as "investigations for misconduct."  Agencies did not explain why these investigations took so long.

The report finds that the use of paid administrative leave can be troubling for employees, such as whistleblowers, whose managers might use leave as retaliation.  Employees cannot appeal their administrative leave status.

The report concludes, "Based on the explanations and evidence received in the course of this inquiry, agencies are able to place an employee on administrative leave simply to avoid addressing an uncomfortable?or potentially even unjustifiable?personnel action. Maintaining this status quo serves neither the taxpayer nor the employee. Its costs are high, and its benefits dubious. Under current practice, employees who did commit misconduct can avoid accountability on a taxpayer-funded vacation, but employees unjustly accused are deprived of professional development and, more importantly, legal recourse, because employees in administrative leave status have no right to appeal its use."

The report recommends statutory changes and other actions to: authorize and define administrative leave in statute; encourage agencies to use options other than paid administrative leave; limit paid administrative leave to specific purposes and short-term duration; provide safeguards against the retaliatory use of administrative leave; preserve non-duty pay status as authorized by law and in the interests of the agency; ensure tracking and recording of administrative leave; and continue and strengthen congressional oversight over administrative leave.

Grassley is working on bipartisan legislation to implement the recommendations.  He is working with the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, with jurisdiction over leave policy, to develop and advance the legislation.

The report is available here.  The appendices are available here, here and here.

 

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