New York
Watchdog: Ex-Labor Secretary misused funds oversaw hostile work place
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer oversaw a “toxic, intimidating and humiliating” work environment and engaged in numerous violations of department policy, according to a new report from the department’s Office of Inspector General.
The report alleges that Chavez-DeRemer “engaged in an inappropriate relationship” with a member of her security detail and repeatedly directed staff to perform personal tasks on government time. It also accuses her of inappropriately combining personal and official travel, violating the department’s alcohol policies, and failing to report gifts through proper channels.
Based on interviews with dozens of current and former labor department staffers and a review of more than 500 documents, images and videos, the report includes several striking allegations.
During a personal trip to Oregon, it reports, Chavez-DeRemer allegedly stopped at a strip club featuring partially nude dancers and directed her limousine driver to come inside and give money to a performer, despite his hesitation. She then “took additional money from her purse and asked the agent to drop the bills one by one onto the partially nude woman,” despite his protests.
Chavez-DeRemer, who resigned earlier this year, could not immediately be reached for comment.
She is also accused of repeatedly directing staff to perform personal tasks during work hours. That included, at one point, directing her personal aide and executive assistant to travel to her home and organize her bedroom closet. After completing the task, they were asked to provide a video documenting their work. The report includes a photo of neatly hung, colorful blazers, alongside purses and shoes.
In other instances, it alleges, she sent staffers to her home to retrieve packages from the mail room, instructed them to make personal purchases that weren’t always reimbursed, and directed a Hispanic federal employee to communicate with Spanish-speaking workers, including a house cleaner and movers.
The report alleges Chavez-DeRemer developed and maintained an inappropriate and unprofessional relationship with a senior agent on her security detail, documenting in extensive detail witness reports of her massaging the agent’s shoulder, the two golfing and gambling together, and leaving an event walking arm-in-arm.
Investigators obtained electronic hotel door lock records that suggested the two were spending time overnight in each other’s rooms. And they obtained key fob records and video footage to document his visits to her home.
The relationship, they said, “appeared to continue even after he was placed on administrative leave and was suspended from his official duties.”
The office also concluded that the former secretary and senior staff consumed and stored alcohol on federal property without permission, that she combined personal and official travel, including visits to family, personal residences and Las Vegas. And it identified a handful of gifts that were not reported, including tickets to attend a rodeo, an alligator-hide wallet and cowboy hats.
The report also alleged that Chavez-DeRemer oversaw a hostile workplace, with senior staff “routinely engaged in threatening, demeaning, and abusive verbal and written communication” that she was seemingly aware of but did not take action to stop.
Witnesses described the work environment as “toxic, intimidating and humiliating,” with staff accused of berating employees in front of colleagues, openly discussing performance issues in the presence of other staff, and frequently making threats of termination.
Texas
Man sentenced to 20 years over a ‘Texas Killing Fields’ case
A man convicted over a “Texas Killing Fields” death was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday in a rare trial related to the bodies of dozens of women found near Houston beginning in the 1970s.
James Dolphs Elmore Jr. was given the maximum sentence by a Galveston County jury a day after they found him guilty of manslaughter in the death of 16-year-old Laura Miller, whose body was found in the infamous area in 1986.
What became known as the “Texas Killing Fields” refers to a stretch of land along Interstate 45 southeast of Houston where the bodies of more than 30 girls and young women have been found. The area has inspired books, movies and a Netflix documentary.
Most of the deaths remain unsolved, and investigators believe multiple people may be responsible.
Miller’s body was found 17 months after she went missing. After the long search for her and frustration with authorities, her father, Tim Miller, started Texas EquuSearch, a nonprofit that helps search for missing people.
“I begged, I pleaded for somebody to do something,” Miller told jurors. “I knew something happened to Laura, I just knew it. I just didn’t know what it was.”
Elmore, 61, had approached Miller several years ago, telling him he was there when Laura Miller died, and the two men met dozens of times. During the trial, jurors watched a video produced by Tim Miller showing the two men visiting locations connected to his daughter’s death.
Elmore was arrested this year, accused of preparing the dose of cocaine that killed her.
Laura Miller was one of four young women whose bodies were found between 1984 and 1991 in a rural field off a desolate dirt road in League City, located about 28 miles (45 kilometers) southeast of Houston. The other three were: Audrey Cook, Heidi Fye-Villareal and Donna Prudhomme.
Elmore was accused in an indictment of preparing a vial of cocaine that was administered to Miller by Clyde Hedrick, who authorities have alleged was the person responsible for the deaths of the four women and had been Elmore’s longtime friend.
The district attorney’s office said in March that it had decided to seek grand jury indictments against Hedrick in the deaths, but the 72-year-old Hedrick died by suicide before the grand jury presentation.
Elmore’s attorney, Bill Agnew, told jurors that his client “didn’t have anything to do with this.” He also noted that had Hedrick lived, Elmore would have likely been called to testify at his trial.
Hedrick was convicted of manslaughter in 2014 in the death of Ellen Beason, a young woman whose body was found in 1985 after going missing the previous year. He was released on parole in 2022.
Most of the deaths associated with the “Texas Killing Fields” remain unsolved.
When Kenneth Cusick was appointed district attorney in Galveston County last year, he said he would be taking a harder look at the cases.
In 2022, William Reece, an Oklahoma death row inmate, pleaded guilty to three murders in Texas: Laura Smither, 12; Jessica Cain, 17; and Kelli Cox, 20.
Reece received life sentences for all three murders.
Watchdog: Ex-Labor Secretary misused funds oversaw hostile work place
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer oversaw a “toxic, intimidating and humiliating” work environment and engaged in numerous violations of department policy, according to a new report from the department’s Office of Inspector General.
The report alleges that Chavez-DeRemer “engaged in an inappropriate relationship” with a member of her security detail and repeatedly directed staff to perform personal tasks on government time. It also accuses her of inappropriately combining personal and official travel, violating the department’s alcohol policies, and failing to report gifts through proper channels.
Based on interviews with dozens of current and former labor department staffers and a review of more than 500 documents, images and videos, the report includes several striking allegations.
During a personal trip to Oregon, it reports, Chavez-DeRemer allegedly stopped at a strip club featuring partially nude dancers and directed her limousine driver to come inside and give money to a performer, despite his hesitation. She then “took additional money from her purse and asked the agent to drop the bills one by one onto the partially nude woman,” despite his protests.
Chavez-DeRemer, who resigned earlier this year, could not immediately be reached for comment.
She is also accused of repeatedly directing staff to perform personal tasks during work hours. That included, at one point, directing her personal aide and executive assistant to travel to her home and organize her bedroom closet. After completing the task, they were asked to provide a video documenting their work. The report includes a photo of neatly hung, colorful blazers, alongside purses and shoes.
In other instances, it alleges, she sent staffers to her home to retrieve packages from the mail room, instructed them to make personal purchases that weren’t always reimbursed, and directed a Hispanic federal employee to communicate with Spanish-speaking workers, including a house cleaner and movers.
The report alleges Chavez-DeRemer developed and maintained an inappropriate and unprofessional relationship with a senior agent on her security detail, documenting in extensive detail witness reports of her massaging the agent’s shoulder, the two golfing and gambling together, and leaving an event walking arm-in-arm.
Investigators obtained electronic hotel door lock records that suggested the two were spending time overnight in each other’s rooms. And they obtained key fob records and video footage to document his visits to her home.
The relationship, they said, “appeared to continue even after he was placed on administrative leave and was suspended from his official duties.”
The office also concluded that the former secretary and senior staff consumed and stored alcohol on federal property without permission, that she combined personal and official travel, including visits to family, personal residences and Las Vegas. And it identified a handful of gifts that were not reported, including tickets to attend a rodeo, an alligator-hide wallet and cowboy hats.
The report also alleged that Chavez-DeRemer oversaw a hostile workplace, with senior staff “routinely engaged in threatening, demeaning, and abusive verbal and written communication” that she was seemingly aware of but did not take action to stop.
Witnesses described the work environment as “toxic, intimidating and humiliating,” with staff accused of berating employees in front of colleagues, openly discussing performance issues in the presence of other staff, and frequently making threats of termination.
Texas
Man sentenced to 20 years over a ‘Texas Killing Fields’ case
A man convicted over a “Texas Killing Fields” death was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday in a rare trial related to the bodies of dozens of women found near Houston beginning in the 1970s.
James Dolphs Elmore Jr. was given the maximum sentence by a Galveston County jury a day after they found him guilty of manslaughter in the death of 16-year-old Laura Miller, whose body was found in the infamous area in 1986.
What became known as the “Texas Killing Fields” refers to a stretch of land along Interstate 45 southeast of Houston where the bodies of more than 30 girls and young women have been found. The area has inspired books, movies and a Netflix documentary.
Most of the deaths remain unsolved, and investigators believe multiple people may be responsible.
Miller’s body was found 17 months after she went missing. After the long search for her and frustration with authorities, her father, Tim Miller, started Texas EquuSearch, a nonprofit that helps search for missing people.
“I begged, I pleaded for somebody to do something,” Miller told jurors. “I knew something happened to Laura, I just knew it. I just didn’t know what it was.”
Elmore, 61, had approached Miller several years ago, telling him he was there when Laura Miller died, and the two men met dozens of times. During the trial, jurors watched a video produced by Tim Miller showing the two men visiting locations connected to his daughter’s death.
Elmore was arrested this year, accused of preparing the dose of cocaine that killed her.
Laura Miller was one of four young women whose bodies were found between 1984 and 1991 in a rural field off a desolate dirt road in League City, located about 28 miles (45 kilometers) southeast of Houston. The other three were: Audrey Cook, Heidi Fye-Villareal and Donna Prudhomme.
Elmore was accused in an indictment of preparing a vial of cocaine that was administered to Miller by Clyde Hedrick, who authorities have alleged was the person responsible for the deaths of the four women and had been Elmore’s longtime friend.
The district attorney’s office said in March that it had decided to seek grand jury indictments against Hedrick in the deaths, but the 72-year-old Hedrick died by suicide before the grand jury presentation.
Elmore’s attorney, Bill Agnew, told jurors that his client “didn’t have anything to do with this.” He also noted that had Hedrick lived, Elmore would have likely been called to testify at his trial.
Hedrick was convicted of manslaughter in 2014 in the death of Ellen Beason, a young woman whose body was found in 1985 after going missing the previous year. He was released on parole in 2022.
Most of the deaths associated with the “Texas Killing Fields” remain unsolved.
When Kenneth Cusick was appointed district attorney in Galveston County last year, he said he would be taking a harder look at the cases.
In 2022, William Reece, an Oklahoma death row inmate, pleaded guilty to three murders in Texas: Laura Smither, 12; Jessica Cain, 17; and Kelli Cox, 20.
Reece received life sentences for all three murders.
