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Breach of Trust: Fake Diploma Investigation
Tell us what you think about this investigative report.
HUNTSVILLE, AL -
In May, WHNT NEWS 19 exposed several people passing off bogus diplomas. They were all connected to the military or missile defense. Chief Investigative Reporter Wendy Halloran broke the story and promised to stay on top of it and get answers for viewers. But in some cases, that has been more challenging than we expected.
You may wonder what's the big deal? There are a lot of reasons. Among them, it's not fair to those people who got degrees the hard way and may have gotten passed over for a promotion by someone who took a shortcut. And, in a field where honesty and integrity are expected - in fact demanded - it's ultimately a breach of trust.
Our investigation exposed enlisted members of the military in Alabama who presented degrees they bought for a fraction of what it really costs and got a return on the investment with an increase in pay grade. Your tax dollars footed that bill.
Sergeant Major Tom Gills of the Army Human Resources Command told us, "To have someone who would go and do something like this sickens me." His office responded swiftly. "I can tell you that what it has caused is a great opportunity for change and we couldn't have done this without your help in discovery," he said.
We turned over more than 200 names to the Army's Human Resources Command. A number we described in our initial report as a "battalion of others who potentially flew under the radar."
Gills said, "One is too many. And, each and every one we're going to identify we're going to turn it over to their commanders for appropriate action."
As a result of our investigation, the Army is examining all records in order to identify soldiers who bought fake degrees and transcripts and turned them over for promotions. They even sent out an all-Army message from the Pentagon to raise awareness and reinforce the Army's standards.
"Each case, it is significant and it just smacks at those core values that we live by," stated Gills.
We also exposed a defense contractor with two bogus degrees.
James Samuelson works for Applied Data Trends and has security clearance. He admitted it was wrong and explained what prompted him to buy the phony credentials.
"To be 100% honest, what prompted me to get it was that my daughter was about to graduate from college and I have dealt with years of being highly experienced and not having a degree," he confessed.
We promised to follow up with his employer. ADT CEO Derrick Copeland sent us a statement which indicated the following:
'ADT has and continues to take appropriate action regarding the situation. On the advice of ADT's legal counsel, ADT does not publically discuss internal matters such as this.'
The probe widened to the Department of the Army civilian side after we exposed Army Aviation and Missile Command's Director of Readiness Chris Oleyte. He bought and used a fake degree in a resume he turned in for a promotion and got.
Our report triggered a Commander's Inquiry at Redstone Arsenal. But, getting straight answers about the Oleyte matter and the 15 other names of AMCOM employees we turned over with questionable credentials has been an uphill battle.
For weeks, we've asked for an interview with Redstone Arsenal's Commanding General Jim Myles. Instead, we received a pre-taped statement from Major General Myles supplied to us on a DVD.
In it, Myles states, "One thing I want to say right up front is that this Command is all about integrity."
We were told by e-mail that the three-minute DVD "appropriately addressed these concerns."
In the DVD, Myles went on to say, " There are no operational security issues surrounding false diplomas that anyone has. There are quite simply none."
We responded, letting them know it didn't answer all of our questions and in some cases fueled even more. But still, they wouldn't agree to an interview and relied solely on the DVD.
"Out of the 2,300 employees we looked at, there were only six that we found that still had a false diploma."
We know the actual number of people possessing fake degrees at Redstone Arsenal is a very small percentage of the workforce. A point Major General Myles made in his taped remarks when he said, "99.8% of all employees are doing things properly and as they should be in accordance with what our polices are and in place."
We made it perfectly clear in our initial report that we were not suggesting Mr. Oleyte is not qualified for the job he currently holds. But, we still have questions about security, integrity, and a potential double standard. We couldn't pose those questions. All we have to go on is the prepared response in which Myles stated, "I fully support that the chain of command did what it should have done in July 2002. And quite frankly, this is old news."
Our quest for the full story has put us at odds with the Commanding General at AMCOM. He sent out a memo to Team Redstone discrediting our reports - calling them inaccurate, misleading and speculative at best.
We vigorously defend the accuracy of our reports. You can watch Major Myles' entire pre-taped response here.
We're also sharing his memo to the workforce at Redstone Arsenal about our investigation. Read it by clicking here.
You can e-mail Chief Investigative Reporter Wendy Halloran directly at wendy.halloran@whnt.com.
You may wonder what's the big deal? There are a lot of reasons. Among them, it's not fair to those people who got degrees the hard way and may have gotten passed over for a promotion by someone who took a shortcut. And, in a field where honesty and integrity are expected - in fact demanded - it's ultimately a breach of trust.
Our investigation exposed enlisted members of the military in Alabama who presented degrees they bought for a fraction of what it really costs and got a return on the investment with an increase in pay grade. Your tax dollars footed that bill.
Sergeant Major Tom Gills of the Army Human Resources Command told us, "To have someone who would go and do something like this sickens me." His office responded swiftly. "I can tell you that what it has caused is a great opportunity for change and we couldn't have done this without your help in discovery," he said.
We turned over more than 200 names to the Army's Human Resources Command. A number we described in our initial report as a "battalion of others who potentially flew under the radar."
Gills said, "One is too many. And, each and every one we're going to identify we're going to turn it over to their commanders for appropriate action."
As a result of our investigation, the Army is examining all records in order to identify soldiers who bought fake degrees and transcripts and turned them over for promotions. They even sent out an all-Army message from the Pentagon to raise awareness and reinforce the Army's standards.
"Each case, it is significant and it just smacks at those core values that we live by," stated Gills.
We also exposed a defense contractor with two bogus degrees.
James Samuelson works for Applied Data Trends and has security clearance. He admitted it was wrong and explained what prompted him to buy the phony credentials.
"To be 100% honest, what prompted me to get it was that my daughter was about to graduate from college and I have dealt with years of being highly experienced and not having a degree," he confessed.
We promised to follow up with his employer. ADT CEO Derrick Copeland sent us a statement which indicated the following:
'ADT has and continues to take appropriate action regarding the situation. On the advice of ADT's legal counsel, ADT does not publically discuss internal matters such as this.'
The probe widened to the Department of the Army civilian side after we exposed Army Aviation and Missile Command's Director of Readiness Chris Oleyte. He bought and used a fake degree in a resume he turned in for a promotion and got.
Our report triggered a Commander's Inquiry at Redstone Arsenal. But, getting straight answers about the Oleyte matter and the 15 other names of AMCOM employees we turned over with questionable credentials has been an uphill battle.
For weeks, we've asked for an interview with Redstone Arsenal's Commanding General Jim Myles. Instead, we received a pre-taped statement from Major General Myles supplied to us on a DVD.
In it, Myles states, "One thing I want to say right up front is that this Command is all about integrity."
We were told by e-mail that the three-minute DVD "appropriately addressed these concerns."
In the DVD, Myles went on to say, " There are no operational security issues surrounding false diplomas that anyone has. There are quite simply none."
We responded, letting them know it didn't answer all of our questions and in some cases fueled even more. But still, they wouldn't agree to an interview and relied solely on the DVD.
"Out of the 2,300 employees we looked at, there were only six that we found that still had a false diploma."
We know the actual number of people possessing fake degrees at Redstone Arsenal is a very small percentage of the workforce. A point Major General Myles made in his taped remarks when he said, "99.8% of all employees are doing things properly and as they should be in accordance with what our polices are and in place."
We made it perfectly clear in our initial report that we were not suggesting Mr. Oleyte is not qualified for the job he currently holds. But, we still have questions about security, integrity, and a potential double standard. We couldn't pose those questions. All we have to go on is the prepared response in which Myles stated, "I fully support that the chain of command did what it should have done in July 2002. And quite frankly, this is old news."
Our quest for the full story has put us at odds with the Commanding General at AMCOM. He sent out a memo to Team Redstone discrediting our reports - calling them inaccurate, misleading and speculative at best.
We vigorously defend the accuracy of our reports. You can watch Major Myles' entire pre-taped response here.
We're also sharing his memo to the workforce at Redstone Arsenal about our investigation. Read it by clicking here.
You can e-mail Chief Investigative Reporter Wendy Halloran directly at wendy.halloran@whnt.com.
I'm a Army vet. I have work experience, but no degree. I'm trying to get a job with the Army, but they are not interested without me having a degree. So they can not tell me that those degrees did not matter on promotions or getting hired.
Michael @ 7:07 AM CDT, Sep 28, 2009
Name names. Who are the 6 employees with fake degrees. The public has a right to know Commander Myles. And what is being done to them?
anonymous @ 11:28 PM CDT, Aug 29, 2009
They covered it up. Employees trust in senior level managers at an all time low. But they don't care. They will squash your attempts to continue this type of reporting. Don't let them.
anonymous @ 12:18 AM CDT, Aug 17, 2009
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