February 8, 2008
Morning Roundup: You've Got to Be Kidding Edition
Good morning, Washington. You would think nothing could surprise us anymore in the wake of the largest embezzlement scandal in our city's history, but here we are again, sitting with mouths agape at the level of stupidity apparently coming from the direction of the Office of Tax and Revenue. If you haven't yet heard, two employees at the Tivoli Square retail center on 14th Street NW in Columbia Heights alerted the authorities on Wednesday when they discovered two computer servers labeled "PROPERTY OF D.C. OFFICE OF TAX AND REVENUE" next to a commercial trash compactor in the alley behind the Ruby Tuesday. We know, we know, it sounds like a joke, but this really happened. After the Tivoli employees alerted the authorities, the FBI took custody of the servers yesterday to look for evidence related to the fraud case. Information available to the city indicates the two servers have not been used by the tax office for five years -- but of course, the Harriette Walters and company embezzlement ring goes back much farther than that. Money quote (and hero of the week award) goes to Tivoli maintenance engineer Melvin Barnes, who told the Post: "At first, I was thinking, 'Man, who's putting this stuff here?' " Barnes said, referring to the boxes. "But when I saw the labels of the tax office, with all this stuff going on, I was like, 'Uh oh.'" We have a feeling this is going to be one of those truth is stranger than fiction news days, kids. And from here, more questions: If everyone who was involved with the fraud case has been fired, then who did the server dumping?
Howard Official Accused of Theft: The District government isn't the only institution dealing with a corruption scandal this morning. The Examiner reports that a Howard University bureaucrat has been charged with stealing nearly $34,000 in federal funds that were supposed to go to injured workers. Christina Bell, a former analyst at Howard’s workers’ compensation office, would face a prison term of up to 10 years if convicted.
Navy Yard Metro Renovations Down the Wire: The Post takes a look behind the scenes of the final push to get the Navy Yard Metro station ready to handle the increased capacity it will need when the Nationals stadium opens in April. Daniel LeDuc describes the station as looking far from complete, although the president of the company in charge of the construction says the renovations are back on schedule after several key delays.
Briefly Noted: D.C. Schools facing backlog of special education cases ... 13 year-old girl escapes abduction in Montgomery County ... Suspect in Falls Church sexual assault is a registered sex offender ... Man convicted in beating death of this grandfather.
This Day in DCist: In 2007 we followed then new Police Chief Cathy Lanier as she made the rounds to address neighborhood groups, in 2006 we congratulated Tony Kornheiser on his new job with Monday Night Football, and in 2005 we got to the bottom of whether women really out number men in D.C. by a huge margin.
Photo by Mr. T in DC
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Maybe Mayor Fenty dropped those servers off there. His parents live just a few blocks away.
And from here, more questions ...
Like: Why would they not remove the label? How much effort does it take to scrape off a label and rip out a hard drive? How did anyone in this office get away with so many years of fraud when they are clearly too stupid to even dispose of the evidence in a halfway competent fashion? Why would they not remove the label?!
Hey, has anyone seen our servers???
I just want to say, hats off to my good friend Melvin Barnes. I live in Columbia Heights and am around the Tivoli Square development often. Melvin's a good guy...
@ the Sex Offender story.
"All I did was tackle her." lol. wtf?
I think y'alls need to lighten up on the tax office criticism. I mean, after a long day of embezzlement, can't a guy just kick back with four or five Bubblegum Mugaritas and get plastered to the hairline? Keeping track of millions in fraudulent transactions every day ain't easy. So what if he forgets he left the evidence behind the dumpster? We should commend this public servant for PUTTING LITTER IN IT'S PLACE. I see someone was paying attention to Woodsey the Owl when he quipped, "Give a hoot! Don't pollute!"
I live near there, too, and have to say they do a good job of keeping the alley behind the Ruby Tuesday pretty clean. What a strange place to dump those computers, though. There is some office space in the Tivoli building, above the retail spaces, and the computer dumper is somehow connected to someone in the building?
They should have just dumped the servers in Franklin Square. I see trash sitting around there for days that no one seems intent on picking up.
There's a place out in Virginia that recycles computers. Will somebody please think about the planet next time they try to rip off the government?
With my rosey glasses I can see what really happened: The servers have no fraud related data on them, they were just old outdated servers used for backing up HR logs or something, they were recycled a year or two ago by DC, maybe stuck in a closet, then picked up by some guy who thought they would make great additions to thier used dell DL380's in achieving thier dreams of the fastest porn site on the east coast. Then they realized the servers were crap and so they tossed them out with the trash.
That is the only explanation for why the labels were still on them, nobody trying to cover something up would be that stupid... would they??
To be honest, I think the truth is going to end up being a lot closer to stmove's rose-colored guess than the fraud-related conspiracy. What's interesting is that unless they were professionally scrubbed, there could still be data that turns out to be interesting and relevant to the investigation. It would be pretty funny if this turned out to be more of a boost to the case than a complication.
The "truth is stranger than fiction" angle to this server story has my head spinning. Finding potential evidence in the trash seems more like a "Law and Order" plot device than an actual news story.
Kudos to Melvin Barnes for being an alert citizen who can actually put two and two together. He's obviously more on top of things than DC's wonderful financial oversight officials.
I put them there. Can I have them back, please?
Man, that Examiner special education story isn't exactly on the up-and-up:
"Internal school documents obtained by The Examiner show that 2,019 special education students will have to be re-evaluated between Feb. 4 and April 30. Federal law requires that every ... IEP ... be renewed yearly."
There's a backlog of these every year, and the DC schools have not managed to put together timely and appropriate IEPs for all students for the last 12 years. That's not a backlog - that's standard operating procedure. It will be news if they either A) significantly increase the number of kids whose IEPs are completed on time, or B) add to the number of kids who haven't been served well by DCPS.
wait, which "law and order" are you referring to? aren't there 83 different versions of the show now?
Speaking of TV shows, is the DC CSI team going to dust those servers for fingerprints??
Well, the regular L&O has already done an episode that gives a nod to Sen. Larry Craig, so I'm guessing this one falls under L&O: Criminal Intent. No wait, those detectives usually deal with super smart criminals.
i'm much more concerned about the metro station, or even the stadium itself, not being ready for opening day than i am about the fraud/servers/corruption stuff. i mean hell, that all is par for the course in dc, but if i'm forced to sit through one more baseball game at rfk i'm going to cry.
Fluxgirl--last I checked, DC doesn't have it's own crime lab. They share space with the FBI and consistently lose people to the FBI (better pay for the same work) once they get trained up. The FBI apparently has the drives now, so there actually will be some dusting going on. The DC cops thoughtfully returned the servers to the office that may have tried to ditch them in the first place.
Melvin Barnes is the man. Give him a pat on the back for me Sneezy.
Regarding the servers- probably just two surplus servers sold by the D.C. government years ago and the current owner was starting to get freaked because of the scandel and decided to dump 'em. Nothing to see here, move along...