Posted on 08/15/2002 7:44:08 AM PDT by Miss Marple
For the past nine months, a convicted felon who was once sent to federal prison for stealing people's identities helped oversee Indiana's $11 billion Public Employees' Retirement Fund.
As one of the state's highest-paid employees, Walter Kevin Scott had access to personal information -- including Social Security numbers -- of more than 200,000 working and retired public employees.
He resigned Wednesday as the fund's chief benefits officer after state officials learned from The Star of his 1996 conviction on federal bank and mail fraud charges.
As a result of revelations uncovered by The Star:
• Scott was immediately suspended late Tuesday. He was escorted from the fund's Downtown office, and his computer access was cut off.
• Gov. Frank O'Bannon ordered an in-depth audit of the fund by a private accounting firm, to be supervised by local attorney Forrest Bowman Jr.
• The Indiana State Police launched a criminal investigation of Scott, including the allegation that he used a stolen Social Security number from someone with the same name to pass a criminal background check.
"We feel sure that no one's pension is in jeopardy," O'Bannon said Wednesday. "The state's a victim of identify fraud, and we're investigating any wrongdoing."
Scott, 35, pleaded guilty in 1996 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to two counts of bank and mail fraud after he admitted stealing the identities and Social Security numbers of two people. He used their personal information to secure loans and lines of credit totaling $31,510, court documents said. He served two months in a Kentucky federal prison and three years' probation, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Bank fraud carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and $1 million in fines. Mail fraud carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
Scott did not return calls seeking comment. Officials from the pension fund also didn't return calls for comment -- the governor's office fielded all questions.
When Scott applied for the state pension job last year, he gave Indiana State Police the Social Security number of a different Kevin Scott to pass his criminal history check. He was hired in November.
Such background checks are used for new hires who deal with money and benefits at the Public Employees' Retirement Fund and the Teachers' Retirement Fund.
William Christopher, who leads the $6 billion teachers' fund, said he relies on extensive interviewing as well.
While the teachers' fund uses a standard state application, the public employees' fund does not. A standard state application asks job seekers to 'fess up if they've been convicted of a crime other than a minor traffic violation and, if so, to attach a detailed explanation. The public employees' fund didn't ask that question of Scott.
Though Scott passed the criminal history check, a thorough review of the resume he submitted to the pension fund might have raised some red flags.
Scott graduated from Ohio State University in 1993 with a law degree -- that was confirmed Wednesday by university officials. He then went to work for Procter & Gamble Co. in Cincinnati -- company officials acknowledge that. But they couldn't say whether he served as an attorney for them, as his resume claimed. Ohio Attorney Registration Office records show he was never registered to practice there.
Scott's imprisonment, from Nov. 15 1996 to Jan. 10 1997, falls within the period his resume says he worked for Procter & Gamble.
From 1997 to 2001, Scott worked for Cook Inc. in Bloomington, a leading medical device maker. According to his resume, he served as an attorney for them. But he was never licensed to practice law in Indiana either, according to records of the Indiana Clerk of the Courts. Cook officials said he did work for them, but in their business administration department. They wouldn't say whether they knew about his conviction.
Often employers are hesitant to give out detailed information on a former employee -- beyond dates of employment -- for fear of lawsuits, said Paul W. Barada of Barada Associates, a Rushville reference checking firm. And that's a problem, he added.
"There is a moral duty to avoid passing bad apples around," Barada said.
But he also said the hiring employer shoulders most of the responsibility -- especially when an employee will deal with money or highly personal information.
"The degree of care you take is directly related to how much risk of harm there is," Barada said.
As chief benefits officer, Scott was responsible for reorganizing the benefits department, reducing the backlog of retirement applications and creating a new member handbook.
He was one of 37 to apply for the post, and among eight who were interviewed, according to the pension fund's human resources department. Scott earned $95,000 per year -- the same salary as the governor.
He also was the third-highest paid employee to be hired during the state's hiring freeze, which O'Bannon ordered to help save the state money.
Good luck!
This guy seems to have committed rather minor stuff compared to "Paul Edward Hindelang".
See this for some of the latest:
Simon firm, court foe still battling
I think Davis is behind much of this smear of Simon!
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