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Investigation finds CareerSource Northeast Florida inaccurately charged federal grants

After three months and 119 employee interviews, the Office of Inspector General released an 11-page report titled “Investigation into Allegations of Inaccurate Charges to Federal Grants”.

The OIG found that CareerSource Northeast Florida “lacks sufficient internal controls necessary to ensure that the time charges are accurate."

“What we're doing is intentional. We're defrauding the government. We're falsely signing our names to something that we know is wrong, and that's got to stop,” said Faron Miles, a former employee of CareerSource, during an interview in December.

It was Miles’ allegations that kicked off the investigation.

He spoke exclusively to Action News Jax about what he witnessed, alleging that district directors ordered staff to falsify time sheets, charging hours worked to the wrong federal programs.

The OIG found “a preponderance of the evidence that this did occur” in instances related to a specific program.

But the investigation also found "no evidence of any intentional misapplication of property
or funds for personal gain."

In a letter to the inspector general, CEO Bruce Ferguson said CareerSource has already developed a plan of action.

Action News Jax requested an interview with Ferguson but we were told he’s out of town. A spokesperson sent us the following statement from Ferguson:

"The DEO Inspector General completed a thorough investigation and interviewed 119 employees regarding our time study and time recording processes. The report found the following: 

  1.  "Most importantly, there was no evidence of fraud or any intentional misapplication of funds for personal gain.
  2. "The IG does believe that our internal controls related to time charges need improvement; the IG found that certain employees were instructed to change their time studies in a manner that aligned with funding priorities but also resulted in an inaccurate reflection of the amount of time spent on some Youth Program tasks.
  3. "The IG recommends technical assistance to ensure compliance with all federal and state requirements.

 "We have already begun the process of reviewing our time study and cost allocation mechanisms with our internal financial and program monitoring firm. They are assisting us in making appropriate procedural changes and helping us develop a staff training plan.

"The plan will move the organization to a Personnel Activity Report (PAR) in place of Time Studies. We’ll also conduct staff training on the new PAR system, form revisions, and procedures to use if there is a change in job function. This plan will be provided to the Florida DEO for their review, approval and any additional technical assistance they deem necessary.
 
"We plan to have this all completed and implemented by the first of May."  

Miles said he strongly disagrees with the finding that showed the misapplication of funds was not for personal gain. He plans to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor.