Posted on 12/18/2001, 4:15:10 PM by Sir Gawain
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Officials at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve misused government authority to get discounted handguns for personal use, a federal probe found.
Workers used government letterhead and assigned a false security badge number to at least one employee in order to buy the semiautomatic guns directly from the manufacturer, according to an Energy Department report obtained by The Times-Picayune.
The scheme involved an Energy Department official and at least half-dozen administrative employees working for the private contractor that operates the reserve. The employees were reprimanded but allowed to keep the guns.
The contractor, DynMcDermott Petroleum Operations, was docked $20,000 by the department.
Federal prosecutors said they will not bring criminal charges.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the national oil stockpile that is maintained in case of an emergency. The oil is held in 2,000-foot salt caverns at sites in Louisiana and Texas.
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