EFTA00112740.pdf

1 2 3 4 DIGITALLY RECORDED 5 SWORN STATEMENT 6 OF 7 8 9 OIG CASE #: 10 2019-010614 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 19 OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL 20 MARCH 21, 2022 21 22 23 24 25 RESOLUTE DOCUMENTATION SERVICES 28632 Roadside Drive, Suite 285 Agoura Hills, CA 91301 Phone: EFTA00112740 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 APPEARANCES: 2 3 OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL 4 BY: 5 BY: 6 7 8 WITNESS: 9 10 11 12 OTHER APPEARANCES: 13 NONE 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 EFTA00112741 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 MR. : This is Special Agent 2 The recorder is now on. My name is 3 . I'm a Special Agent with the 4 U.S. Department of Justice Office of the 5 Inspector General New York Field Office and 6 these are my credentials. I don't know if you 7 can see it, Mr. 8 MR. : I could see. 9 MR. : Okay. This interview with 10 former Federal Bureau of Prisons employee 11 is being conducted as part of an 12 official U.S. Department of Justice Office of 13 the Inspector General investigation. Today's 14 date is March 21, 2022. The time is 11:08 a.m. 15 This interview is being conducted via Zoom 16 videoconferencing as, Mr. , you're 17 currently in Kentucky; is that accurate? 18 MR. : Correct. 19 MR. : Also present is DOJ/OIG 20 Assistant Special Agent in Charge 21 . This interview will be recorded by 22 me, Special Agent Could 23 everyone please identify themselves for the 24 record and spell your last name? To start 25 again, I am DOJ/OIG Special Agent EFTA00112742 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 . That's 2 MR. : I am Assistant Special 3 Agent in Charge with the 4 DOJ/OIG, and these are my 5 credentials. 6 MR. : Received. 7 MR. : Mr. can you please 8 identify yourself and spell your last name for 9 the record? 10 MR. : Yeah, my name is 11 . I am a Junior on some 12 documents, and I am a former employee of the 13 DOJ Federal Bureau of Prisons and particular to 14 this matter MCC New York. 15 MR. : Thank you. This is an 16 official DOJ/OIG investigation into the events 17 surrounding the death of Inmate Jeffrey Epstein 18 and you're being asked to voluntarily provide 19 answers to our questions. Will you agree to a 20 voluntary interview with the DOJ/OIG? 21 MR. : Yes. 22 MR. : Just for the record I did 23 email you two forms prior to this interview, 24 one was OIG Form 3-226-2, that is the Warnings 25 and Assurances. And the other form is OIG Form EFTA00112743 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 5 1 3-226/10A, which would be the Non-Disclosure 2 Agreement, and you signed - you read both of 3 them, signed them, but for the record I'm going 4 to read them to you and let's start off with 5 the Warnings and Assurances form. 6 The United - the form states: The United 7 States Department of Justice Office of 8 Inspector General Warnings and Assurances to 9 Employee Requested to Provide Information on a 10 Voluntary Basis. You are being asked to 11 provide information as part of an investigation 12 being conducted by the Office of the Inspector 13 General. 14 This investigation is being conducted 15 pursuant to the Inspector General Act of 1978 16 as amended. This investigation pertains to job 17 performance failure and security failure. This 18 is a voluntary interview. Accordingly, you do 19 not have to answer questions. No disciplinary 20 action will be taken against you if you choose 21 not to answer questions. Any statement you 22 wish to - you furnish may be used as evidence 23 in any future criminal proceedings or agency 24 disciplinary proceeding or both. 25 The waiver states I understand the EFTA00112744 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 6 1 warnings and assurances stated above and I am 2 willing to make a statement and answer 3 questions. No promises or threats have been 4 made to and no pressure or coercion of any kind 5 has been used against me. 6 Mr. , you've read the form? 7 MR. : Yes, I have. 8 MR. : You understand the form and 9 you agree to move forward with the interview? 10 MR. : Yes, I do. 11 MR. : And you've already signed the 12 form and you sent it back to me and myself and 13 14 MR. : (Indiztornible 15 4-00:03:43)Correct. 16 MR. : ASAC will sign 17 the document after the interview. The second 18 form states: Department of Justice Office of 19 Inspector General Non-Disclosure Agreement. I, 20 , understand that the Department of 21 Justice Office of Inspector General OIG will 22 allow me to review certain documents in 23 connection with my remote interview with the 24 OIG on March 21, 2022, in order to facilitate 25 that remote interview. A copy of the documents EFTA00112745 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 shown to me during my interview with the OIG 2 labeled OIG Documents will be made part of the 3 OIG record of that interview. 4 As a condition of being granted access to 5 review the OIG interview documents, I agree not 6 to make an audio or video recording of the 7 interview, excuse me, and I also agree that 8 until the OIG's final report or a summary of 9 the final report is released to the public I 10 will not copy, photograph, discuss, or disclose 11 any information from or about the OIG interview 12 documents I review to anyone other than the 13 OIG, my attorney if I have legal counsel who 14 also executes a non-disclosure agreement with 15 terms similar to this agreement, or other 16 specifically authorized by the OIG after any 17 such person executes a non-disclosure agreement 18 with terms similar to this agreement. 19 I further agree that even after the OIG's 20 final report or a summary of the final report 21 is released to the public I will not discuss or 22 disclose any information from or about the OIG 23 interview documents that are not contained in 24 or that are redacted from the publicly released 25 final report or summary of the final report. EFTA00112746 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 8 1 These provisions are consistent with and 2 do not supersede, conflict with, or otherwise 3 alter the employee obligations, rights, or 4 liabilities created by existing statute or 5 Executive order relating to (1) classified 6 information, (2) communications to Congress, 7 (3) the reporting to an Inspector General or 8 the Office of Special Counsel of a violation of 9 any law, rule, or regulation, or mismanagement, 10 a gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, 11 or a substantial and specific danger to public 12 health or safety, or (4) any other 13 whistleblower protection. The definitions, 14 requirements, obligations, rights, sanctions, 15 and liabilities created by controlling 16 Executive order and statutory provisions are 17 incorporate into this agreement and are 18 controlling. 19 Mr. , do you understand that non- 20 disclosure order? 21 MR. : I do. 22 MR. : And you already read the 23 document, you signed it, and you've dated it. 24 Thank you for that. 25 MR. : You're welcome. EFTA00112747 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 9 1 MR. : Before I start the interview 2 I would like to place you under oath. Mr. 3 , can you please raise your right hand? 4 Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but 5 the truth during this interview? 6 MR. : I do. 7 MR. : Thank you. You can put your 8 hand down. Please let me know if you do not - 9 if you don't understand any questions and I'll 10 try to repeat it or rephrase it for you. 11 MR. : Sure. 12 MR. : So we'll start with your 13 background. What is your current home address? 14 MR. : My current home address is 15 and that's in 16 17 MR. : What is your date of birth? 18 MR. _: 19 MR. : And what's your Social 20 Security Number? 21 MR. -: 22 MR. : Thank you. What is your 23 current cellphone number? 24 MR. : Area code 25 MR. : Okay. What's your current EFTA00112748 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 what's your highest level of education? 2 MR. : Currently in college still 3 pursuing a bachelor's degree. 4 MR. : Which college? 5 MR. : Probably about a semester ago 6 I was in Champlain College all online out of 7 Burlington, Vermont, and I just recently 8 transferred Gateway Community Technical College 9 right here in my hometown of Kentucky. 10 MR. : And what are you pursuing 11 your bachelor's degree in? 12 MR. : Liberal arts(Indiscernible 13 *00:07:52), yeah. 14 MR. : Do you have an associate's 15 degree? 16 MR. : Credit wise, yes, but 17 formerly, no. 18 MR. : And what did you do prior ts 19 working for the BOP? 20 MR. : Prior to the BOP I was a 21 truck driver delivering fuel, oil, and stuff 22 like that. And prior to that I was down in 23 North Carolina where I was a correctional 24 officer for the State of North Carolina, which 25 is what got me my job into the BOP, my EFTA00112749 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 experience. 2 MR. : Okay. So from - since high 3 school - from high school you started working 4 for the North Carolina BOP or did you do other 5 jobs before that? 6 MR. : Oh, from high school I --. 7 MR. : Various jobs? 8 MR. : Man of many - I - man of many 9 trades. I can't even count how many jobs I've 10 had, but my main career out of everything was 11 truck driving. I was pretty much a truck 12 driver. I drove all kinds of trucks and stuff 13 like that. Then when I met my current wife 14 back in '08 we had moved to North Carolina to 15 be by her family and that's when I acquired a 16 job with the North Carolina Department of 17 Corrections, and then I was down there for two 18 years and did that. 19 We moved back to New York, which is where 20 I went back to driving truck again while I was 21 in the hiring process for the Bureau of 22 Prisons. And then I ended up getting hired 23 with the Bureau of Prisons in November of 2011, 24 and I started at MDC Brooklyn. 25 MR. : How long were you at MDC EFTA00112750 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 Brooklyn for? 2 MR. : Right around two years and 3 then I transferred down to FCI Estill in South 4 Carolina, and I was there for about two years 5 or so, got promoted to General Foreman and 6 transferred out to FCC Hazelton, which is 7 complex out in West Virginia, Bruceton Mills, 8 and I did a little over a year there and came 9 out to MCC New York in December of 2016 is when 10 I got to New York. 11 MR. : Was that your first --? 12 MR. : Basically, worked - what's 13 that? 14 MR. : Sorry. Was that your first 15 time at MCC? 16 MR. : Yes. Yep. 17 MR. : Okay. Go ahead. 18 MR. : I worked at all three - the 19 worst three prisons in the Bureau of Prisons. 20 MR. : So with the BOP, once you got 21 to MCC in 2016 is that where you spent the rest 22 of your career with BOP at MCC? 23 MR. : It was. I was there - I got 24 there in December of 2016, I think it was right 25 before Christmas and my last day on the job was EFTA00112751 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 Valentine's Day of 2019. 2 MR. : Okay. 3 MR. : And I was there for that 4 amount of time as a General Foreman. 5 MR. : You --. 6 MR. : Now (Indi3ccrnible 7 *00:10:58) was that February 14, 2019? 8 MR. : That's correct. 9 MR. : Okay. Thank you. 10 MR. : Yeah. 11 MR. : Do you recall your EOD date 12 with the BOP, exact date by any chance? 13 MR. : Yeah, November 6, 2011. 14 MR. : Okay. And when did you 15 graduate from BOP training? 16 MR. : I would have to look that up. 17 MR. : It's okay. If you don't 18 remember it, don't worry about that. We just 19 it's generic question we ask. 20 MR. : I was there for Super Bowl, 21 so if I got hired in November and I was in 22 Glynco for Super Bowl, I would say it had to 23 have been February of `20. No, I'm sorry, '12, 24 2012, yeah. 25 MR. : So when you started with the EFTA00112752 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 14 1 MCC you said you were a general foreman and 2 that was your position up until when you 3 separated from the MCC in February 14, 2019? 4 MR. : Correct. 5 MR. : Okay. And what is your - 6 after you left MCC, what is your current title 7 and what agency do you work for? 8 MR. : I currently work for the 9 General Services Administration Public Building 10 Services, and I am a Building Manager. 11 MR. : Okay. While you were at the 12 MCC as a general foreman, was that your title 13 in 2018 and 2019? 14 MR. : General foreman was the 15 internal kind of phrase. I think the position 16 title officially OPM was Maintenance Mechanic 17 Supervisor. 18 MR. : Hold on, let me write that. 19 MR. : And I was WS-4749, Grade 14, 20 Step Five. 21 MR. : So official title is 22 Maintenance Mechanic Supervisor? 23 MR. : Correct. 24 MR. : And who did you report to? 25 MR. : The facility manager. EFTA00112753 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 15 1 MR. : Who was the facility manager 2 at that point? 3 MR. _: 4 MR. : And when did Mr. 5 understanding is Mr. retired from MCC. 6 When did he - according to your recollection, 7 when did he retire from the MCC? 8 MR. : I would probably have to say 9 - I don't know the exact dates because his exit 10 was kind of unique. He didn't actually 11 initially retire; he went out on some kind of 12 other type of leave and eventually it's to my 13 understanding he ended up retiring. But when 14 he had went out all communication stopped with 15 everybody with him. Nobody - he never kept in 16 touch with anybody. He never reached out. Bu - 17 18 MR. : When was that? 19 MR. : I really don't know what 20 hey, I don't know his exact date, but I would 21 probably want to say that I was there for 22 almost maybe just under or right around or 23 another year after he had left. I don't think 24 it was that much because there was several 25 other people locally that had filled in EFTA00112754 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 including me for his position. 2 MR. : So you recall that other 3 people filled in his position while he was gone 4 while you were still there? 5 MR. : Correct. 6 MR. : Okay. So do you believe he 7 left in 2019 or 2018? 8 MR. : I really honestly couldn't 9 tell you. I do remember --. 10 MR. : I think what is 11 trying to ask is not his official retirement 12 date but around when did he leave the MCC and 13 communication with him stopped. I think you 14 said -- 15 MR. : Yes. 16 MR. : -- it was approximately a 17 year before you left? 18 MR. : Yeah. The only thing I can 19 tell you - I don't really know the dates. The 20 only thing I know from what I recall is Mr. 21 had just went to Denver, Colorado, for 22 some kind of facilities manager conference 23 training and he had never returned back to the 24 institution once he went to that training or 25 conference or whatever it was. It had EFTA00112755 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 something to do with facility managers all 2 going out there. And all I know is that when 3 he went out there, he went there for a week or 4 so, and he never returned to the institution 5 after that. 6 MR. : Okay. 7 MR. : It was (Indizcorniblo 8 *00:15:21) 9 MR. : Do you know why he left, 10 what happened? 11 MR. : I have no idea. I have no 12 idea. I couldn't tell you. I mean, there was 13 a lot of rumors, but I just know that when he 14 went to that training, it was like he went home 15 after that. He never came back to the 16 institution or that conference, whatever. 17 MR. : Now, do you know if it 18 was personal reasons, medical, or 19 administrative? 20 MR. : I have no idea why he didn't 21 come back although he did make medical issues 22 known to us on the job, that he had some 23 medical issues. 24 MR. : Okay. And you said a few 25 people filled in the position. So his title EFTA00112756 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 18 1 you said was Facility Manager, right? And 2 what, was he your direct supervisor? 3 MR. : He was, yep. 4 MR. : Okay. And who does the 5 facility manager report to? 6 MR. : The Associate Warden of 7 Operations. 8 MR. : And who was Associate Warden 9 of Operations in end of 2018 if you recall? 10 MR. : So we had three in the time 11 that I was there, and I believe worked 12 under all three of them. So there was 13 and then the last 14 one that was there prior to me leaving was 15 or They called him 16 but I believe his real name was 17 MR. • • , okay. 18 MR. : All three of them had 19 performed - they were the AWO they call it, AW 20 of Operations, which oversaw the Facilities 21 Department, and that's who the facility manager 22 directly reported to. 23 MR. : Okay. And when Mr. 24 left the MCC and that's not when he retired, 25 let me clarify this, (Indioccrniblc *00:17:19) EFTA00112757 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 this is when he stepped away for leave 2 purposes, do you recall who took over for hire. 3 initially? 4 MR. : Yeah. So the warden at the 5 time which I can't remember which one it was 6 because there was so much staff that came and 7 went throughout this whole thing, that one time 8 it was the executive assistant who was told to 9 oversee the department, and then at another 10 time the AW oversaw the department. 11 MR. When you say "executive 12 assistant" -- 13 MR. (Indiscernible *00:17:56). 14 MR. -- who was that? 15 MR. • (rhonctic Sp. • 16 *00:17:59). 17 MR. : So he oversaw it for a little 18 bit? 19 MR. : He did, yes. 20 MR. : Okay. And then who was the 21 next person? 22 MR. 23 . He was told to oversee it. And then 24 there was a little bit of a stint where, you 25 know, I could just informally absorbed a lot of EFTA00112758 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 20 1 his job duties just to get the department 2 functioning, but I was never actually promoted 3 or paid or anything like that that actually - I 4 was never formally designated as acting or 5 anything like that, I just had to do some of 6 the facility manager functions in order to have 7 the department operational. 8 So I would get my go-ahead for - to do 9 those functions. They would - they oversaw it 10 or approved by either III or 11 at the time. 12 MR. : So they gave you the go-ahead 13 and you went ahead and completed the functions. 14 Do you recall when exactly this time period was 15 when you acted? 16 MR. : I wasn't really designate - 17 I wasn't really acting, I was just - if I had 18 to do - if I had to get something done that a 19 facility manager would normally have to do, I 20 would just go to the - whatever time period it 21 was, if III was over the 22 department or if was over the 23 department, I would have to go to them and say, 24 "Hey, listen, can I go ahead and do this? Can 25 you give me the approval, sign off on it?" and EFTA00112759 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 21 1 then I would actually do the act. 2 MR. : Okay. Bear with me a second. 3 Let's see. Maybe this might help -- I have a 4 SigNet contract here, right? And it's multiple 5 questions will be on the SigNet contract -- 6 MR. : Yeah. 7 MR. : -- and bear with me. I'm 8 going to see if I can share my screen here. 9 This document that I'm showing you, can you see 10 it? 11 MR. : No. 12 MR. : Why is this - how about now? 13 MR. : I got something coming up. 14 Yep, I could see it. 15 MR. : Okay. So this document that 16 I'm showing you is - it says, "MCC New York." 17 It says, "Solicitation Contract Order for 18 Commercial Items Offered to Complete Blocks 12, 19 17, 23, 24, and 30." 20 MR. : Yep. 21 MR. : And it says, "Requisition 22 Number 1064-18." 23 MR. : Yep. 24 MR. : This is just for the record. 25 I'm just reading it, just the top part, so we EFTA00112760 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 22 1 know which document this is. The Contract 2 Number states GS-07F as in Frank-0322T, and the 3 Award Effective Date is 09/21/2018. Do you 4 recall -- 5 MR. : Okay. 6 MR. : -- this document at all? 7 MR. : I don't see that document, 8 no. 9 MR. : See over here. 10 MR. : But it's not under the 11 facility manager one. I don't recall ever 12 putting my eyes on the document. 13 MR. : This is part - Section 15. 14 You see over here? 15 MR. : Correct. 16 MR. : And it's - it's says 17 "Delivered to Federal Bureau of Prisons MCC New 18 York" and lists you as a point of contact. 19 MR. : Correct. 20 MR. : Now, if we scroll down a bit. 21 MR. : Uh-huh. 22 MR. : We're going to scroll down to 23 Page 6 on this document. 24 MR. : Correct. 25 MR. : It lists you as the EFTA00112761 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 23 1 facilities manager. Does this jog your memory 2 at all? 3 MR. : I do. I was always - when 4 had left, I was pretty much assumed the 5 facilities manager. Like I said, I was never 6 formally promoted or even temporarily entered 7 that position, nor was I ever designated as 8 acting. So the fact that that says facility 9 manager, I don't know why or who put that there 10 because I was always a general foreman. I was 11 never, ever in the role of a facility or with 12 -el•ftd4seen+Is+e—te•Oa- full title, whether 13 temporary or permanent, was never a facility 14 manager. 15 MR. : Okay. 16 MR. • 17 MR. 18 MR. : I was never even formally 19 designated as acting, they just pretty much 20 said, "There's no facility manager, is 21 next in the chain of command," so they just 22 referred to me as it. That's what I'm assuming 23 whoever typed this up. 24 MR. : I know it's been about three, 25 four years. I know it's kind of tough EFTA00112762 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 24 1 remembering some of this stuff, that's why we 2 trying to pull - we try to pull documents where 3 we believe it could help you. 4 MR. : Right. 5 MR. : I know we have an email. I 6 don't know if this will help a little bit too. 7 This email right here, it says "Regarding 8 forward cameras from to 9 (Phonetic Sp. *00:23:OC)." Who is that? 10 MR. : He was, I believe, the 11 supervisor of the SIS Department at the time. 12 MR. : And was --. 13 MR. : He was like the lead SIS 14 investigator. 15 MR. : Okay. And then we have 16 , who is that? 17 MR. : He was a communications 18 technician that I supervised in the Facilities 19 Department. 20 MR. : And we have III 21 Was that the executive assistant that you 22 mentioned before? 23 MR. : Oh, correct, yep. 24 MR. : And this is dated January 4, 25 2019. EFTA00112763 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 MR. : Correct, yep. 2 MR. : And we'll go through the 3 email, but it says on the bottom, it says 4 . Is that - that's your signature, CESCO 5 General Foreman-Acting Facility Manager? 6 MR. : Correct. 7 MR. : So I know this is in January 8 4th. I know you mentioned you were always under 9 the title of General Foreman, but you were also 10 not officially acting, but you were still doing 11 the job. Does that help at all jog your 12 memory? 13 MR. : Right. So an email went out 14 by the AW telling all the department heads that 15 when had left that I would be running 16 the Facilities Department until a replacement 17 was found, hence why I would assume the acting 18 part went into my signature line. 19 MR. : Got it. And do you know when 20 this email went out? 21 MR. : That looks like a month 22 before I left according to the date. 23 MR. : No, no, I meant - you said 24 there was an email that went out saying - from 25 the AW saying that you would be acting --. EFTA00112764 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 26 1 MR. : Oh. Oh, yeah, I don't - I 2 couldn't - it'd have to have been - it was 3 shortly after - it might have even been from 4 the warden if I'm not mistaken, which was 5 , because I remember whatever happened 6 with down in Colorado and why he didn't 7 come back I remember that the Warden 8 was very, very upset with whatever was going 9 on, and I just remember somebody, I can't 10 recall exactly who - came down to the 11 office, to my office, and spoke to me 12 personally and told me that he would like me to 13 just hold things down until they figure out 14 things, what was going to happen with 15 and see what was going to happen. 16 And then I remember an email going out 17 telling all department heads that I would be 18 to see me for any facilities-related issues -- 19 MR. : Okay. 20 MR. : -- because was no 21 longer there. 22 MR. : Okay. So according to this 23 you were acting facility manager, but you were 24 general foreman, but you were acting at this 25 point. And so, on record is it possible from EFTA00112765 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 the time that when Warden assigned you the 2 title to when you left were you the acting 3 facilities manager - facility manager? 4 MR. : So I don't - I would - 5 definitely not up until the time I left because 6 there was some butting of heads between me and 7 • and at times where 8 they overrode a lot of decisions that I made 9 that I'm normally supposed to make underneath 10 my title. So -- 11 MR. : Can you give us an example? 12 MR. -- at the very, very end I 13 believe at the time was 14 running the department for the most part at the 15 time that I left. So it wasn't the whole 16 entire time, it was very sporadic. It was just 17 constant change of roles and responsibilities 18 and - but I was definitely at one point - like 19 I said, it was like a - it was just like an 20 informal internal, "Hey, this is . He's 21 going to be the facility manager until we 22 figure out what's going on," and they fill the 23 position, which they had not since I walked out 24 the door. 25 MR. : So basically - my EFTA00112766 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 28 1 understanding from what you're saying is on --. 2 MR. : But I guess what you would 3 say is during this time period I would be the 4 guy who would have - if anybody had any 5 questions or concerns involving this contract, 6 they would had to have I guess come to me, 7 yeah. 8 MR. : Okay. Now, do you remember - 9 I know you mentioned that the (Indiaccrnible 10 *00:27:37). previously. Tell me, do you recall 11 if there was an update or upgrade of the camera 12 system going on in - at the MCC in 2018 or `19? 13 MR. : Prior to this right here? 14 MR. : Well, (Indi.scorniblo 15 *00:27:53) ignore this document for a second. 16 Give me - hold on, let me see. We'll come back 17 to that document. Do you recall in general was 18 there an upgrade happening at the MCC for the 19 camera system? 20 MR. : There was an upgrade that 21 started with 22 MR. : Okay. 23 MR. : There was - from what I 24 understand there was camera issues well - going 25 way back well before I even got there, long EFTA00112767 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 29 1 before even got there. They had 2 recorder and decoder issues. There was a whole 3 slew of things and I would assume - I would 4 imagine it was probably due to the age of the 5 institution and there was very little 6 infrastructure upgrades and updating and stuff 7 like that. But I remember prior to, you know, 8 me inheriting what started, there was 9 all kind of issues with the cameras from what I 10 heard from internal communications and stuff 11 like that. 12 So started this program, this 13 project, at the request of higherups. I don't 14 really know the backdrop on that, that was in 15 between them. And then I really did not get 16 involved with it at all until he never came 17 back to work. He dropped off and then I just 18 picked up after him. 19 MR. : I kind of missed a key point 20 I wanted to ask. So as a - can you 21 differentiate the job duties between a facility 22 manager and the general foreman? 23 MR. : So basically, the facility 24 manager they keep track of the budget. They 25 authorize expenditures. They obviously EFTA00112768 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 30 1 supervise me, and then I in turn supervise the 2 subordinate staff, the wage grade trade guys. 3 But basically, he handled the approval of 4 projects, you know, submitted approvals for 5 projects. He did, like, the five- and 10-year 6 plans for the facility, authorized all the 7 expenditures. He went ahead and sat in on all 8 the department head meetings to give executive 9 staff briefings on what's going on in the 10 department, progress reports, stuff like that. 11 Listen to any concerns that they would have and 12 then he brings it back to us. 13 And in my job, my main job by title is 14 literally - I was in charge of supervising, 15 monitoring, and then the wage grade guys that 16 were below me because I was also wage grade. 17 The facility manager is a GS employee. I was a 18 WS employee just like the rest of the trade 19 guys. And my job was basically to supervise 20 them guys, assign them work, make sure they 21 were coming and going in the facility with the 22 inmates, make sure that they were handling 23 their tools and all that other stuff. I did 24 their performance evaluations and all that 25 other stuff. And the facility manager pretty EFTA00112769 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 much did all that on me. 2 So he was my supervisor. He would 3 evaluate me, you know, keep track of my time 4 and all that other stuff. And that's pretty 5 much it. 6 MR. : Who were some of the 7 employees that reported to you? You said the 8 wage employees. Who were the employees that 9 reported to you? 10 MR. : In the Facility Department it 11 was the trade specific wage guys, so you had 12 the communications technicians, engineering 13 technicians, carpenters, plumbers, 14 electricians, HVAC guys. And then each one of 15 those tradesmen have a (Indiaccrnible 16 *00:31:39) cadre of inmates that work for them, 17 so I would go ahead - work orders would come in 18 from all departments, you know, requests, "Hey, 19 can you change a light bulb? Can you unclog 20 the toilet here?" I would give that work order 21 to the appropriate trade guy and then he would 22 take his group of inmates and go out into the 23 institution and fix it and close out the work 24 order, report back to me. 25 MR. : Okay. Agent , any EFTA00112770 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 32 1 questions on that before I move forward with 2 the contracts? 3 MR. : Yes, I'm just writing 4 down some follow-up questions. So just - can 5 you just clarify again, when were you actually 6 the acting facilities manager? 7 MR. : It was whenever they wanted 8 me to be basically. It was sporadic and on and 9 off, so --. 10 MR. : Yeah. I got it. You 11 said, like, when or departed 12 they put out an email and then we saw an email 13 that was from January of 2019 that said that 14 you were acting facilities manager but then you 15 said you weren't. 16 MR. : Well, it was in my signature 17 line the acting facility manager, so I think it 18 was just never - I think I rolled with that 19 since left. I think that acting part 20 just stayed in the signature line. But there 21 was --. 22 MR. : After they made the 23 notification that you were the acting facility 24 manager, did they ever tell you that you were 25 not the acting facility manager? EFTA00112771 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 33 1 MR. : Yeah, that's why I was saying 2 it was - I bumped heads with executive staff 3 sometimes because I thought a lot of the 4 decisions that they were making weren't in the 5 best interest of the facility at the time. And 6 when I say that I mean, like, infrastructure 7 stuff, you know. And I kind of like - they 8 didn't like the way I prioritized certain 9 things within the department. 10 So there was some conflicts every now and 11 again and that's why the warden would go ahead 12 and say, "Okay. Hey, III, you know what, 13 you're overseeing the Facilities Department 14 now. Have report to you." And then they 15 also did the same thing with at one 16 point where he came in, which was right around 17 the thing and where he was told that he 18 was going to go ahead and - so they were like 19 dual role. They were pretty much - your 20 executive assistant and the facility manager 21 and then your AWO and the facility manager. 22 MR. : So were you still the 23 acting facility manager and they were just 24 overseeing what you were doing to make sure 25 that in your acting capacity you're doing it EFTA00112772 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 1 right? Or they --. 2 MR. : That's up to interpretation. 3 I didn't have any decision-making power. It 4 had to all go through them -- 5 MR. : But --. 6 MR. -- while (Indiscernible 7 *00:34:33). 8 MR. : But at least in your 9 signature line you maintained the acting 10 facility manager? 11 MR. : I guess. I guess I just 12 never took it out, yeah. But 13 MR. : But was there ever 14 anything official that went out, like there was 15 an official email saying you're the acting 16 facility manager. Was there ever anything that 17 said you're no longer the acting facility 18 manager or - you know what I'm saying, like --? 19 MR. : Yeah, no, not to my knowledge 20 there was - because there was talks because 21 they were dragging on the hiring of a 22 replacement facility manager because 23 case, whatever he had going on on his personal 24 side with the Bureau they couldn't fill the job 25 until they finalized what was happening with EFTA00112773 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 35 1 him. They needed like, I guess, an end date or 2 something like that. They needed to know when 3 was falling off the books in order for 4 them to re-post the job. 5 So there was never - it went on for so 6 long. Like I said, it was from the point that 7 I had walked out the door there in February of 8 '19 there was still no facility manager there. 9 And I also know at the time that I walked out I 10 may have not took the word "acting" out of my 11 signature line, but I know I wasn't acting at 12 that time that I had left per se. 13 And I don't recall ever an official email 14 going out saying where I was acting. I 15 remember an email going out saying to all 16 department heads that was no longer 17 around and if anybody needed anything from the 18 facilities department to see me. 19 MR. : Now, were you --. 20 MR. : (Indiscernible *00:36:07). 21 MR. : Through the whole time 22 were you a part of these meetings that you said 23 that the facility manager would be a part of? 24 MR. : Some of them, yes, I was. 25 Yep. EFTA00112774 LIMITED OFFICIAL USE 36 1 MR. : So until the time you 2