Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman speaking back in 2008. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

D.C.’s visitor parking pass program has been the subject of a fair amount of controversy of the years, but the Washington Post broke a story yesterday that seemingly topped the rest: a top Pentagon official went to remarkable lengths to threaten a nanny who had been using a visitor pass to park in the neighborhood (which is entirely allowed). Now the official, Bryan Whitman, has been placed on leave, the Post reports.

How to lose a public affairs job in 60 days, starring Matthew McConaughey as a Pentagon official by day, parking pass vigilante by night:

April 4: (zooming in) He scribbles a threatening note and purposely walks over to a vehicle, thrusting it on to the windshield with a self-satisfied look on his face. It reads: “I know you are misusing this visitor pass to park here daily. If you do not stop I will report it, have your car towed and the resident who provided this to you will have his privileges taken away.”

April 6: Brooding over his mortality (McConaughey/Whitman turns 58 the next day), he decides to take it out on that damned parking pass abuser. He steals their license plates, muttering “that ought to do it,” and saunters away with a self-satisfied look on his face (an Ennio Morricone original plays)

April 8: Enraged to find that the person has simply replaced the plates, he returns to steal another plate

April 12 and 13: Scanning the block, he finds the car—and a new plate bolted on—still there, with the parking pass taunting him from behind the windshield (pan to recently installed surveillance video footage)

The following week: He returns with vengeance and proper tools to remove the plates. It takes him nearly an hour of hard work, but he smiles and thinks it was worth the effort.

May 2: Police show up to the door and he realizes the jig is up. He turns to his disappointed wife, Kate Hudson, and hands over the plates

May 5: Despite a stay away order, he walks in front of the house. Later that week, he decides to park in front of it

May 31: He agrees to a deal to pay $1,000 in restitution, perform 32 hours of community service, and stay away from the nanny and her employer; if he’s successful, the case will be dismissed and his wife will be able to look at him again. Assume that this whole thing is over

June 1: After he declines to tell his side of the story, The Washington Post reports the story in gleeful detail

June 2: He gets put on paid administrative leave.

According to the Post, Whitman was one of the most visible Pentagon spokesman amid the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, though his current role has been less public-facing. And now it’s in jeopardy.

“In light of the pending criminal case involving Bryan Whitman, he has been placed on administrative leave while the department reviews this matter,” Gordon Trowbridge, the Pentagon’s deputy press secretary, told the Post.