Interior boss blasts fired Utah BLM law enforcement agent

By Brian Maffly

A top Interior Department official has singled out the recent firing of a controversial Bureau of Land Management agent over Utah to illustrate a renewed commitment to hold accountable senior employees who misuse their official positions and to protect those who report such abuse. Dan Love, who once led law enforcement for the BLM’s Nevada and Utah state offices, was fired not long after an Aug. 24 report from Interior’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) faulting him a second time for official misconduct, according to a memo circulated Friday by Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt. The memo to Interior employees also mentioned another supervisory lawman recently fired in the wake of another OIG probe. That report concluded Edwin Correa engaged in sexual harassment while serving as chief ranger at Canaveral National Seashore in Florida. “We will hold people accountable when we are informed that they have failed in their duties and obligations,” Bernhardt wrote. “Although the law in large part prevents dissemination of the details of actions taken, I am sharing these examples because you need to know that the Department has taken concrete disciplinary action in cases of serious misconduct, including those involving senior officials.”...more

 And remember the Obama administration had promoted this guy. Kudo's to Bernhardt.

BLM agent involved in Bundy standoff given pass by U.S. Attorney’s Office

A Bureau of Land Management agent who held a command position during the Bundy Ranch standoff over grazing rights in Nevada has been given a pass by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Utah on charges of mishandling evidence, according to the AP. According to a report made public last week, BLM Agent Daniel Love instructed another federal employee to take valuable stones being held as evidence and then passed them out “like candy” to colleagues and a contractor. The stones, called moqui marbles, are unique geological formations of iron oxide that form in sedimentary rock. The stones were among thousands being stored as evidence in an investigation into whether they had been illegally collected from a national park. The entire collection was valued between $150,000 and $520,000. According to the AP, the employee told investigators he had a “bad feeling” about taking the stones from the evidence room, but followed the instructions because Love was a law enforcement officer and “scary.” Love told the employee to take four of the best rocks from the collection that was stored in a number of 5-gallon buckets so  he could give them out as gifts. Another employee who had stones in his possession said Love was “giving them out like candy.” The report also found that Love told an employee to eliminate emails and other information that had been requested by then-U.S. Representative Jason Chaffetz, who was looking into the handling of Bundy Ranch fiasco. “We were deeply concerned he was manipulating the record. I’m glad they dove deep into this,” Chaffetz told AP. “It’s against the law to change the federal record, particularly when you’re motivated to protect your own rear.”...more