This story was updated at 1:50 p.m. EST.
A former U.S. EPA employee has been indicted on charges of holding child pornography as well as stealing agency computer equipment and obstructing the investigation into his activities.
Floyd O’Hara, once an information security officer working in EPA’s Chicago-based Region 5 office, was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on one count of possessing child porn, one count of conversion of government property and two counts of obstruction of justice, according to court documents.
Under those charges, O’Hara, who is 62 years old and a Naperville, Ill., resident, could face a maximum of 70 years in prison.
The indictment alleges that O’Hara had child porn on a laptop computer and a flash drive. He is also accused of altering, destroying and concealing two computer hard drives in order to impede the investigation into his activities. In addition, under the indictment, O’Hara allegedly took eight EPA devices — laptop and desktop computers as well as servers — and converted them for his own use without the agency’s approval.
O’Hara’s arraignment is scheduled at 9:30 a.m. Thursday before U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer in Chicago.
In June, O’Hara was arrested by police over accusations that he was holding child porn. O’Hara denied those allegations in an interview with E&E News at the time, saying he was assisting with an EPA inspector general probe into who was using an agency computer network to download child porn (Greenwire, June 9).
Also, at the time of his arrest, O’Hara was still an EPA employee. The Justice Department’s announcement of O’Hara’s indictment said he was "formerly employed" by EPA. An agency spokeswoman said that, after his arrest, O’Hara was barred from EPA facilities and then retired before the agency could fire him.
"The employee was immediately barred from EPA facilities on the day he was arrested and ten days later — seven days of which were a legally required waiting period so the employee could respond to the proposed suspension — he was suspended indefinitely without pay. Before EPA could proceed with removal, Mr. O’Hara retired," said an EPA spokeswoman.
Investigators with the EPA Office of Inspector General helped bring the case against O’Hara.
"The OIG takes very seriously these allegations regarding child pornography and the misuse of government property. The OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to bring those who engage in such crimes to justice," said EPA Office of Inspector General acting Special Agent in Charge Joseph Gonzales in a statement to E&E News.
O’Hara’s case has caught the attention of members of Congress who have been critical of EPA in the past. In a statement after O’Hara’s arrest in June, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz said, "The problems at EPA Region 5 persist and worsen with each account."
"It is deplorable for an agency to have sunk to such toxic levels. Leadership from the very top is needed to restore the integrity of this office," the Utah Republican said.
Chaffetz’s committee has been investigating several scandals involving EPA’s Region 5 office, including the agency’s lackluster response to the drinking water crisis in Flint, Mich., as well as alleged sexual harassment of several women who worked in that office. Both of those controversies have come under investigation by the EPA inspector general, as well.
