WASHINGTON (AP) - A government inspector says the former security chief for the Federal Emergency Management Agency hired four employees with criminal backgrounds, costing the agency nearly $350,000 in salary.
Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth says in a report issued Monday that the former security chief hired two convicted criminals in 2011. Two other employees hired by the security chief's office had criminal conduct in their backgrounds.
Roth says the security chief, who was not identified by name, had a prior relationship with two of the employees and knew about their backgrounds before hiring them. The hires cost the agency $349,944 in salary.
The employees were fired.
Roth also finds that employees in the agency's Fraud and Internal Investigations Division violated FEMA's premium pay rules for compensatory time.