More than 130 federal hurricane inspectors, including one who was drinking on the job, three who made inappropriate romantic overtures to storm victims and nine who filed fraudulent claims on damages they never saw, were fired last year after the four storms that pummeled Florida.
One inspector from St. Augustine told The Herald he conducted 80 inspections in Puerto Rico by meeting applicants at a Burger King.
''I know it was wrong to do what I did at the Burger King, but between the hotel and car and food it cost me $225 a day to just be there,'' said Juan Pedro Abascal, 58, who conducted nearly 200 inspections in Florida as well. ''The first inspection took me four hours. They pay $43 per inspection -- you do the math.''
Abascal -- and 131 others among a workforce of 3,500 -- were caught.
Administrators of the Federal Emergency Management Agency say the companies they contract to hire, train and deploy thousands of inspectors are forced to check and double check the claims, and FEMA demands zero tolerance on bad inspections.
''It's never good news when people we hire are caught not doing their jobs or defrauding the taxpayers,'' said Dan Craig, chief of the agency's recovery division. ''But it's certainly good news that our private contractors are out there watching to make sure these people are caught.''
He said firings of inspectors are commonplace during any disaster.
Sometimes tips came from telephone calls by astonished storm victims. Sometimes the transgressions were uncovered by quality-control workers double-checking claims. Sometimes other inspectors turned in colleagues who they saw cutting corners. And sometimes, online computer technicians in Washington caught the bad inspections while back-checking claim forms.
SLIPSHOD WORK
The inspectors -- hired as private, independent contractors to FEMA -- were fired mostly for slipshod work or bad attitudes or because they didn't fulfill company training requirements or workloads, according to records obtained by The Herald.
But in a few of the most egregious cases -- like the nine who filed phony claims forms -- all the claims were reinspected, and the names of the fired inspectors were forwarded to the Homeland Security department's Office of Inspector General for prosecution.
So far, federal investigators have subpoenaed the personnel files of only one of the nine -- the only one of those who conducted inspections in Miami-Dade County, a Herald investigation has found.
There are no subpoenaes for the files of the Burger King inspector or the retired builder from Slinger, Wis., who did eight inspections from a Central Florida gas station or the inspector from Texas caught borrowing money from a storm victim in Dixie County.
In the midst of a media and political frenzy over as-yet undocumented allegations of widespread fraud in Miami-Dade County, federal prosecutors, congressional investigators and agency auditors have focused primarily on trying to answer one question:
Why did more than 12,000 Miami-Dade residents collect more than $31 million in FEMA grants after Hurricane Frances, even though the storm passed 100 miles to the north?
A team of federal auditors sent to find the fraud included none in its final report, instead centering criticisms on FEMA's long-standing pay-first-verify-later policies designed to cut checks quickly with little red tape.
A Senate oversight panel is convening a two-hour hearing on Wednesday to examine the allegations, and a federal grand jury in Miami has issued 14 indictments against FEMA recipients who collected more than $156,000 in allegedly fraudulent claims. Six have already pleaded guilty.
More indictments are expected soon, this time including inspectors.
FEMA administrators argue the tropical storm-force winds that struck Miami-Dade caused sufficient damage to justify 99 percent of its grants. Now, they think the feverish investigation centered on Miami-Dade has led investigators to neglect other cases of fraud throughout Florida and elsewhere.
''I can't tell you why they appear focused on one particular county,'' Craig said. ''But we would certainly hope it doesn't end there.
''We hope the authorities go after anyone committing fraud against FEMA and the taxpayers, no matter where it is or what county it happens in.''
FIRED IN OCTOBER
Administrators of the Inspector General and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami declined to comment for this report, citing their ongoing grand jury investigation. But interviews with federal sources involved with the investigation, along with an examination of inspection company records obtained by The Herald, shows that at least one of the inspectors under investigation was fired last October -- within two weeks after he was hired to conduct inspections after Frances.
His name, withheld by The Herald because of the ongoing investigation, was forwarded to investigators months ago for prosecution. Sources say the 21-year-old Georgia man conducted 42 inspections in Miami-Dade County, and six of them were done by telephone.
Federal investigators also subpoenaed the files of another inspector who was not fired and whose name was not forwarded to investigators. She conducted dozens of inspections in southern Miami-Dade, where investigators have focused their attention. Her name also is being withheld because of the federal investigation.
Several inspectors also have been subpoenaed as witnesses, including one fired inspector who handled several claims in Miami-Dade of those who were indicted.
Records show that the two companies under contract with FEMA to provide inspectors -- Parsons Brinkerhoff and Partnership For Response and Recovery -- each fired about the same number of inspectors last year. Parsons fired 65 and PaRR 67.
The Herald obtained a list detailing the firings by Parsons Brinkerhoff, and the company's reasons for each. They include:
Efrain Martinez, 59, who runs a construction company in Edinburg, Texas. He was fired on the grounds that an applicant ''complained of sexual harassment'' and it was discovered that he ''borrowed money from applicant,'' records show.
Martinez, contacted Friday, refused to discuss details of the allegations without being paid for the interview. ''They better have proof of what they are saying,'' was his only response.
Gregory G. Bublitz, 42, a building contractor from Slinger, Wis. He claimed he did more than 900 inspections in Central and Northern Florida, and acknowledged that in about eight instances he set up a meeting with storm victims in a gas station parking lot.
''Some lady complained that I was out there doing inspections without going to the houses,'' he said. ''I was and that's a perfectly legit thing to do. There was no safe access to the location.'' Actually, inspectors are trained that, even in cases where the structure is unsafe, they have to see it.
Debra Sparkman, 46, a janitor for the city of Houston. She acknowledged she met one Fort Pierce storm victim at the end of his block because his mobile home was underwater.
She denied being fired, however. ''Nobody ever talked to me about it,'' she said.
Rod Dauberman, 52, a retired construction worker. He acknowledged to his bosses he was drinking after a female storm victim in the Panhandle complained.
''Somebody complained they smelled beer on me. I didn't deny it,'' Dauberman said. ''They told me to turn in my stuff, so I did.''
But Dauberman denied he asked the woman for a sleepover. ''She must've been nuts,'' he said. ''She said I asked to move in with her. That's crazy. I already had a place to stay, and I certainly wasn't looking for a woman.''
REINSPECTIONS
Spokesmen for both companies declined Friday to discuss details surrounding the firings, but said they are obliged to reinspect at least 3 percent of all inspections.
''In the very rare instances where we found that inspectors either cut corners or falsified reports, we terminated our relationship with them, and then reinspected,'' said Hugh Inglis, the FEMA project manager for Parsons Brinkerhoff.
FEMA's Craig on Friday confirmed The Herald's findings, saying his agency forwarded ''at least'' nine names of inspectors caught lying on claims to the inspector general earlier this year, but that only one was subpoenaed by investigators.
''We've checked with our two companies and it appears your numbers are right,'' he said. Craig declined to discuss specifics, citing the ongoing investigation.
Related:
