How an EPA employee stole $900K by pretending to be a CIA agent
BY: CJ Ciaramella — Free Beacon
October 2, 2013 12:24 pm
The strange and sordid saga of John Beale, a top Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official who defrauded the federal government out of nearly $900,000, has by turns outraged, flabbergasted, and sickened members of Congress, but on Tuesday it achieved something even rarer: It left them speechless.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), the head of the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, had asked one of Beale’s former supervisors, Robert Brenner, if he had seen Beale lately.
“I’ve seen Mr. Beale,” Brenner testified, pausing to chew over his next sentence. “Well, I’ve seen him a lot over the last two weeks. He’s renting out his home, so he’s staying in my guest house right now.”
For a brief moment, the oversight committee, usually full of bluster, was left gob smacked.
Over the course of two congressional hearings Monday and Tuesday, new details emerged about Beale, a former top EPA official who over the course of 13 years bilked the agency out hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent travel vouchers and illegal bonuses. Along the way, Beale falsely claimed to be an agent for the Central Intelligence Agency, a Vietnam War veteran, and remained on payroll for over a year after a retirement party on a Potomac dinner cruise.
Overall, Beale spent two and a half years absent from work while still getting paid. According to investigators, he committed time card fraud, travel fraud, impersonated a federal agent, and misused a government passport, among other crimes.
In the House oversight hearing, Issa noted that if Beale had actually retired, he would have gotten away scot-free.
“That is 100 percent correct,” Sullivan replied.
“I guess we should be happy he got greedy,” Issa said.
http://freebeacon.com/the-spook-that-never-was/
What a sordid affair and going on for decades. What does it take to get to the bottom of things?
Right Ring 
Just to point out: “What a sorted affair and going on for decades. What does it take to get to the bottom of things?”
I think you actually meant “sordid”…?
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Yea, THANKS (I sure did) I only hope they can sort it out. [bad …]
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LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Punny!
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First, thanx for posting this, Bullright. This highlights the need for SMALL GOVERNMENT. No one in the House or Senate can tell me that this person (I use the term loosely) is the only one to have bilked the government. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
I say keep the government on partial shutdown until this type of thing is rooted out. I don’t care how long it takes! Once they really start digging, who knows what the House would find!!!
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It does. Isn’t it strange how the emphasis is always on Issa for running a bad, partisan investigation? Orwellian (for once here was one even Boxer could rail against)
“During the course of Monday’s hour-long briefing, chairwoman Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) compared Beale’s story to “Alice in Wonderland,” “Catch Me If You Can,” and “Monty Python.”
“What the heck happened?” Boxer asked. — Priceless….
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LOL, Mrs AL , we have the pretender in the Oval Office and his composites.
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And government is going to run our healthcare system…
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Ouch, and “run” is the operative word.
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By “run” I assume you mean as in diarrhea. (Sorry for the grossity, but it’s the first thing that came to mind.)
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Mrs. AL, well I was thinking on the lines of control….but lack of control works equally well. (the legislation/regulations validate your point) 🙂
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