Sadly, Hugh is right. Two cases-in-point:
Lois Lerner. In a sane world, she would have been indicted for various crimes a year ago, and by this point, be awaiting trial or doing time in a federal pen. And despite the fact that she is still under investigation, Ms. Lerner was allowed to retire from the IRS with an annual pension of $110,000.
John Beale. Former senior EPA official, took every Friday off for years—without taking leave—claiming he was part of a CIA task force that met on that day at Langley. Also spent 6 months at his vacation home in Massachusetts while he was supposedly “deployed” to Afghanistan. Billed the government for trips to see family members in Los Angeles. Collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses he was not entitled to. Convicted and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison, but still allowed to retire before his case went to trial. Annual pension believed to be more than $100K a year.
Here is another: Dale Jones, Top law enforcement officer at NOAA, Caught shredding case files of commercial fishermen who were charged exorbitant fines that went into a slush fund they used for luxury boats and foreign travel.
Punishment: lateral transfer and slight reduction in pay.