D.P. Roberts
Conductor
http://news.yahoo.com/dea-payments-amtrak-employee-being-investigated-204958787--politics.html
In summary, the DEA wanted information about certain passengers as part of several drug-busting operations over 20 years. The DEA could have received this information for free, but apparently they decided to pay a certain Amtrak secretary over $850,000 over the 20 years.
Amtrak police are also upset because if the DEA had gone through official channels, they would have received a portion of any money recovered as part of DEA operations. It's possible that the DEA wanted to cut Amtrak police "out of the loop" on these busts.
Alternately, one presumes that it was faster and easier to just pay off the secretary than to get the information for free through "official" channels.
As a passenger, I find both options troubling. Yeah, it was just one employee, but I wonder who else is handing out passenger info & just hasn't been caught yet.
If the second theory is true, it's depressing that Amtrak is so encumbered with inefficiencies and red tape that even the DEA is willing to pay money to avoid the Amtrak bureaucracy.
In summary, the DEA wanted information about certain passengers as part of several drug-busting operations over 20 years. The DEA could have received this information for free, but apparently they decided to pay a certain Amtrak secretary over $850,000 over the 20 years.
Amtrak police are also upset because if the DEA had gone through official channels, they would have received a portion of any money recovered as part of DEA operations. It's possible that the DEA wanted to cut Amtrak police "out of the loop" on these busts.
Alternately, one presumes that it was faster and easier to just pay off the secretary than to get the information for free through "official" channels.
As a passenger, I find both options troubling. Yeah, it was just one employee, but I wonder who else is handing out passenger info & just hasn't been caught yet.
If the second theory is true, it's depressing that Amtrak is so encumbered with inefficiencies and red tape that even the DEA is willing to pay money to avoid the Amtrak bureaucracy.
