Federal workers' records mishandled 4,000 times at St. Louis County facility, audit reveals

St Louis Post Disgrace ^ | Feb 28, 2014 | Robert Patrick

[Second Amendment First]

National Personnel Records Center workers here dumped, stashed or otherwise destroyed 4,000 records of individual federal employees, the head of the National Archives revealed in a memo this week.

The magnitude of the loss — more than twice what was previously disclosed — is described in an internal memo obtained Thursday by the Post-Dispatch.

In it, Archivist of the U.S. David S. Ferriero summarized a recent investigation by the agency’s Office of Inspector General and the FBI, saying he was “outraged” to learn records “had been treated with such disregard.”

It appears that some workers took easy shortcuts rather than investing the time to file documents properly.

And another agency document suggests the problem may not be new.

A July 30, 2012, letter from the Office of Inspector General said that as the old records center facility in Overland was being decommissioned in 2011, employees found documents hidden in pillars and stuffed in the space between the floors and the lowest shelves.

Roughly 4,000 documents were found at that time, including military discharge paperwork, medical documents, Distinguished Service Medal orders and other files, it said.

[Second Amendment First]

I think the perp would have had a future in the Clinton Liebrary if he wasn't so sloppy.

Those records triggered an audit and led investigators to employee Stanley Engram, who would later admit destroying or deliberately mishandling more than 1,000 records — disposing of 241 in the woods, “abandoning” others in the building and throwing away others at home, according to federal criminal court files.

Stanley Engram

Engram and Lonnie Halkmon, 28, each pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government records. Each faced a sentence ranging from probation to six months behind bars under federal sentencing guidelines, and each received two years of probation and 40 hours of community service.

[Diogenesis]

Federal records mean nothing.
The gov't lies, destroys records, and like
Sandy Burger there has been no accountability.

“We are Democrats. Above all "law". ”

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

“Each faced a sentence ranging from probation to six months behind bars under federal sentencing guidelines”

That’s the problem right there. The gov’t doesn’t take our personal records serious. intentionally screwing up a thousand peoples lives should be taken a lot more seriously.

[napscoordinator]

Those records triggered an audit and led investigators to employee Stanley Engram, who would later admit destroying or deliberately mishandling more than 1,000 records — disposing of 241 in the woods, “abandoning” others in the building and throwing away others at home, according to federal criminal court files.

He is dumb but also stupid for saying he threw some stuff away at him. Good Lord he is going down. It was a case of being lazy and not caring about the job.

[Doogle]

A suggestion for those who may not know....if your registered with the VA, YOU HAVE THE right to request a copy
of all military records that the VA has on file (believe me, there’s more there than you realize)..the first time is FREE.

[maine yankee]

Back in the late 80’s I had to deal with the records center in St Louis (in person).

Even by gov’t employee standards, these folks were lazy and incompitant.

State and county officials in StL area were some of the lazyest folks I’ve ever dealt with in government.

[Soul of the South]

About a year ago I filed a request for my records. I received a letter back from the center stating they could not be found. Now I know why.

[Organic Panic]

Poor widdle federal workers had they wecords mistreated. Thats only suppose to happen to the peasants.