Fighting Fraud: DLT Follow-up

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - The Target 12 Investigators are once again "Fighting Fraud," with major new developments in an exclusive investigation.

Last fall, we showed you undercover video exposing waste inside the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training. Four fraud investigators were caught by our undercover unit running personal errands and spending "R & R" on the taxpayers' dime.

When we first brought our findings to the director of the Department of Labor and Training, she told us they too were working on accusations of waste inside the fraud unit.

After our piece aired, the four workers were suspended, with pay. Now we've learned two are back to work and two no longer work for the state.

• Web Extra: Changes Inside Fraud Unit

Fighting Fraud

In the original Target 12 Investigation "Fighting Fraud," we followed the state's four "fraud and overpayment" investigators over several months. Their job takes them on the road investigating phony unemployment and disability claims. Their daily itineraries, obtained by Target 12, are supposed to tell their supervisors where they are and when.

But often we found them miles from where they claimed to be, at home or doing personal business. For example, one itinerary submitted to a DLT supervisor shows that on September 14th, investigator Debra Lombardi was supposed to be on Howard Ave in Cranston at 2:30pm.

But we found her at home.

Time and again, we found a pattern of questionable behavior during months of surveillance. After our request to interview the investigators was denied, we caught up with Lombardi leaving work last fall.

Debra Lombardi: "On my investigations I can't comment."

Tim White: "Your itineraries show you are not investigating. The itineraries I have right here, you say out doing an investigation, but we find you at home. How do you explain that?"

Debra Lombardi: "Have a nice weekend."

The Fallout

Director Sandra Powell, Department of Labor and Training: "I can say that Miss Lombardi is no longer with the state service."

Was it resignation or termination? DLT Director Sandra Powell says she can't get specific on personnel actions. But the president of the union that represents these workers tells Target 12 they are fighting the termination of Debra Lombardi.

In a statement, Local 401 President Lynn Tipton says:
"We are going to be consistent with the credible evidence out there, and not the sensationalized evidence put out there by Channel 12, and we'll take the appropriate actions as we always do."

But Director Powell says before Target 12 came to them with these findings, they had already started their own internal investigation into the fraud unit.

Director Powell said, "We really took a look at the unit and we really revamped our processes to both the internal processes in terms of how the unit functions and also the oversight of the unit."

Director Powell says they now have a management person dedicated full-time to the fraud unit. They've also revamped their itinerary reporting process to tighten up on oversight of the investigators.

• Web Extra: Dir. Powell On Fraud Unit Changes

As for the three other investigators, DLT officials say Allyn Bosworth retired shortly after the report aired. Investigator Claribel Terrero is back as a fraud investigator. And David O'Brien is now working in the Unemployment Insurance Call Center as a Senior Employment and Training Interviewer.

Powell says, by law, she can't comment on the level of discipline for each worker. But the union tells us, simply, they are fighting all disciplinary actions.

"I would say that our investigation was a solid investigation, but it was certainly added to by external information from both the Bureau of Audits, Channel 12's film was very important, and then the additional work that the State Police did," said Powell.

No Criminal Charges

Powell says they asked the State Police to step in to explore the possibility of criminal charges. In the end, a state prosecutor decided not to press charges.

In a letter to the state police, Assistant Attorney General J. Patrick Youngs says it would be difficult to file charges based on edited video from Channel 12, rather than State Police surveillance.

The letter also reveals that of all the months worth of findings used in the Target 12 Investigation, on just two days, a separate witness each for two of the investigators recalled them working around the time our undercover video clearly had them out on personal business.

And because their job legitimately takes them on the road, it would make it hard for prosecutors to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The prosecutor says while "all employees did, to varying degrees, take advantage of the loose work environment and lack of supervision," it was Debra Lombardi that troubled him the most, saying "She certainly personifies all that is reflected in the public's stereotype of a lazy, arrogant state employee."

Youngs goes on to