the state alleged that going back to 2004, “state-mandated documents that were required for probation officers to document and fill out and maintain in their files were essentially not being done.”Though the actions of Upshur juvie probation department were reprehensible, it's good to see that the TJPC was somehow able to tell that something was amiss, and even better that the Upshur Juvenile Board took responsibility and called in the Rangers after questions were raised. So often, it's not the offense but the coverup that gets government workers into trouble. It's one thing to not do your job for years on end; for that you might get fired. It's quite another to begin forging documents in criminal cases en masse, forging the name of youth, paretnts, etc.. Given the scope of the offense, a misdemeanor and deferred adjudication is a slap on the wrist, indeed.
[The District Attorney] said the state charged that when an auditor, or monitor, from the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission came to the county, “the two ladies would go back and forge and document the state contracts and state documents by signing parents' names, children's names, and essentially the whole document was forged.”
“The work just wasn't being done. Some of those documents were very important” because they helped determine “what treatment would be necessary for that child,” the district attorney said.
He said the misconduct went on over several years (2004 to 2008, according to the indictments).
Byrd had said in a news release last September that the indictments came after the Juvenile Board of Upshur County had asked him to contact the Texas Rangers to investigate the department.
“I believe that there was a member of the juvenile (probation) department that came to the board making various assertions and allegations — nothing specific, but there was enough said to the board that they felt that it would be appropriate” to call in the Rangers, he said Friday night.
“But for us asking the Rangers to do an overall investigation into the department, we probably wouldn't know to this day” documents were altered, Byrd said.
Is this going on elsewhere? I doubt it's widespread, but would also be surprised if this was an utterly isolated incident. In an ideal world, I'd like to see TJPC debrief the Texas Ranger investigators to identify the specific tactics, document trails, etc., that enabled them to discover the forgeries, then create protocols based on those investigative tactics to incorporate into routine records checks or agency audits. Going forward, they won't ever be able to say "We never imagined someone might do that," so they may as well put in front end checks and balances to keep such an embarrassment from happening again.
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16 comments:
This is the sort of thing that the Republicans in Congress called "mere paperwork violations" just the other day (specifically N.J. Rep. Scott Garrett).
Great!!
Just what we need, an excuse for TJPC to create more standards!
Just plain stupid. Glad they weere caught, prosecuted and are no longer in the business.
You remember when those whales went crazy and beached themselves and thrashed around until they died? When state agencies go crazy, they don't beach themselves and thrash around. When they go crazy, they go on a paperwork binge. They get paper loco and before you know it they have state worker spending 8 or 9 hours a day just on the extra paperwork they conjured up.
It's easy to see when a whale go crazy. Hardly anyone notices it when state agencies go crazy. Now, be honest, don't you know some administrators you would like to see thrashing around on a beach? Did you ever try to reason with those paper-loco folks?
A vote of confidence for keeping more youth under probation supervision!!!
This goes on all over the state...look at West Texas.
The Upshur County D.A. is out of control: he has indicted the County Judge, a County Commissioner, the Sheriff, and the chairman of the Republican party. Now he's prosecuted the entire juvenile probation department. This doesn't excuse the actions of the JP office, but it certainly does shed some light on the situation. Byrd seems to think he's doing the Lord's work.
All over the state? Hell, it goes on all over the nation.
Two Pennsylvania State juvenile judges were recently convicted of sending thousands of kids to juvenile homes and collecting millions of dollars in kickbacks from the owner.
One thing I have learned is that if it is happening in one place, it is happening all over.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/mark-ciavarella-pa-juvenile-court-judge-convicted-alleged/story?id=12965182
So much stock is put into geting a good score during a TJPC audit that people are willing to forge documents??? Just goes to show the state agencies are pushing JPD's to the brink with their massive amounts of BS.. The telltail factor should be "did the kid get services and are they better for it", not "did you sign the right document and is the wording correct, and did you have a worthless caseplan......."
Yep, just like in the past, 1 person or group screws up and everyone across the state pays. That is how TJPC creates standards to terrorize the state. The sky is indeed falling so hurry and create another 10 standards.
Should have just taken the monitoring hit. But then who knows what the results would have been.
On the other hand when your in a small remote area and there is only one provider and you've used him for 15 years and he always sees your kids and does a great job... Forgetting to sign a contract along with the other stuff you have to do ..... Well it's long way you know what!
Bet you thousand right now TYC would trade thier sex abuse scandal for a few fake signatures!
Milton was just doing his job. Every small department across the state is short staffed and attempts to do their very best with the kids they are trying to rehabilitate. Then along comes mega state agency that tells them we will pull your funding if you don't have your paperwork triple checked. In the long run it's the kids that suffer because WE have to worry about the almighty sword that TJPC monitors carry. It's a shame they don't focus on the good jobs we do caring for the kids, not that T that wasn't crossed.
When will people quit blaming TJPC for county employees committing forgery? It's a crime, pure and simple to falsify information and/or signatures on government records. To verify JPO's are 'doing their job', it has to be documented.I believe every job requires documentation. It's not like Upshur was some urban county with thousands of referrals and hundreds on each officer's caseloads.
Real criminals will always try to project blame onto others for their own misbehaviors and crimes.
As the TJPC/TYC consolidation issue is debated I'm sure there are some who would use this in some way to show a weakness in TJPC. The local management problem was addressed and taken care of. Monitors did not "discover" this nor did they cause the activity. But a wrong was done and TJPC just answered questions when ask about what the director was suppose to have done.
TYC on the other hand, had some knowledge of the behavior of the management in a previous facility.... The answer they came up with was move them to Peyote!
And you know the story from there!
Weaknesses at TJPC don't need a scandal like this to bring them out. TJPC management has their heads so far up it is funny to watch them run around. Documentation is one thing. The absurdity of many TJPC standards just goes to show how far removed they are from the real world. Get outta our way and let us fix kids.
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