By Steve Neavling
Two high-ranking officials with the U.S. Marshals Service are accused of having sex at the agency’s Virginia headquarters, and a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of federal employees wants more information on the alleged tryst.
The Federal Managers Association is exploring how the “senior” officials were disciplined compared to rank-and-file employees, The New York Post reports.
The group sought more details of the alleged rendezvous in a Freedom of Information Act request.
“The more specific recent activity we seek documentation on involves serious allegations of sexual misconduct by two agency employees within the senior ranks, purportedly at the Agency’s headquarters complex (i.e. in taxpayer funded office space), that may have occurred on official time,” states the letter, referring to the Marshals headquarters in Arlington, Va.
In the request, FMA wrote that employees are concerned about the “evenhandedness” of discipline.
“A high number of managers across the workforce have raised as a concern the evenhandedness with which the Agency applies discipline between executives and rank and file. This particular case is being cited as an example where it may not be occurring,” FMA wrote in the Sept. 28 request.
The at-work tryst allegedly occurred in June or July. The officials are not identified.
One of the officials was granted “extended special leave.”
“We are most interested in understanding if the approval pre-dated the employee’s alleged sexual activity with who we understand to be a lower-grade employee also assigned to the headquarters complex,” FMA wrote.
The U.S. Marshals declined to comment on the specific allegations.
“As a federal law enforcement agency, the U.S. Marshals Service demands high standards of personal conduct from our employees,” spokesman Drew Wade wrote in an email. “We take seriously any allegation of misconduct by our personnel.
“As a matter of policy, USMS does not discuss personnel matters. However, all credible allegations are investigated and appropriate disciplinary actions are taken, if warranted.”
