THE THIEF OF DREAMS - Chapter 6

As a result of the downfall of the District Director, Port Director and Assistant Port Director.....I knew that my name would be forever stained. Of these people, one was forced into early retirement and the other 2........they would be removed from their posts and reassigned to lesser positions of responsibility. Of the 3, all were in charge of the Los Angeles District. Their crimes you might ask? Hmmmm. Lets see, where do I start. I believe I will start with the most egregious example. According to the aforementioned IG report....one individual did the following......he sexually harassed at least 3 female subordinates. One subordinate he lured into an office while on duty.....and in uniform......locked the door.......dropped his pants......and masturbated in front of her. Not once....but twice. He was also found to have reached inside of the shirts of several subordinates....and also engaged in suspected sex acts with Korean Airlines employees...at least one of them was later hired as an inspector. His punishment.....well, it was highly publicized and also ran on television. The LA Times ran a story about it as well. Criminal charges were filed against him and eventually he plead nolo contendre (guilty) to a simple assault charge...a misdemeanor. That was pleaded down from the 5 original counts against him...such as lewd behavior and aggrated sexual assault. Well....that was for the criminal part...but here is what the government did with him.....

Initially, he was shuffled away working at a detention facilty. Later he was given paid administrative leave....even later still, after the union complained about his lack of punishment....he was finally fired. But.......it did not last long. He also filed an appeal to the administrative board where I had filed. But, unlike me....where I had to sit in open court for anyone to see. He received a special treat. A private affair in the District Director's office with no outside witnesses....just the parties and attorneys. Apparently...a deal was reached... a secret deal. The final outcome was shocking.....I know, because I received the final decision of the administrative board.....under the FOIA. All the adverse information action was removed, he was reinstated and received full back pay. Gee.....I wonder why I did not get the same opportunity....and I was never even charged with a crime. Although he was removed from his prior post....I was informed by the union that he had been reassigned as a criminal investigator....a law enforcement position that required firearms. Unbelievable! Yes...I was furious....because at the time they were sacrificing me....they were saving his rotten hyde.
Yes...I was furious. And with good cause! Over the years I have tried to asertain his status....but they would neither confirm, nor deny.....he is an employee of the empire. Very nice indeed.

Next, according to another IG report, and media sources...we have an individual who had tried to get one of his subordinates to naturalize his foriegn born wife earlier than the law required. The subordinate refused several times and turned him into the IG. Beset with anger, said individual was observed in a hallway at work choking the female subordinate. That's right....he had her pinned up against the wall and was pinching her windpipe. When he noticed that he was being watched, he made a statement to the effect of "what would I get for murder...3 days". Again....I was furious. I was being made to suffer while these real criminals were running wild. So what did he get for this lack of judgement? Well.....an early retirement....complete with a party...and his full retirement pension. That's just great! What the hell was going on anyway!

The third individual had done the least of them....but it was enough. As I later discovered, curtesy of my "gift" from the mole....he was sneaking off at lunch hour with a.....you guessed it.....female subordinate for a noon time quicky. I guess it did not matter that both were married! Even more frustrating was the fact that the female he was "sleeping" with, was my EEO Counselor! Talk about sleeping with the enemy. Not to mention, according to the IG, he was well aware of the sexual depravity of our top deviant....counseled him on numerous occasions about his bahavior.....but did nothing to stop it. I guess if you live in your own glass house....you really can't throw stones. And the mighty empire allowed for this type of sick behavior from its' ruling elite.....but God forbid a lowly underling like me have difficulties that pale in comparison......and it's off with his head. Ivory towers indeed. I must point out that this is just in my district alone...as I discovered...this type of bahavior was occuring throughout the empire. Some of it much worse...if that's possible. I accumulated an archive of material. The Academy was not immune from this depravity either. They were rocked by sexual harassment and misconduct charges by students against several of their instructors. According to sources...none lost their jobs. Even the assistant director who had flown out to LA to fix their mistake by ramming another panel through...had his problems. It seems that he had to take a little trip to the orient for business....I guess he didn't want to go alone.....so he made sure his wife was penciled in for the trip..... allegedly on the taxpayers dime. I can imagine what that cost. If I am not mistaken....his punishent included having to pay back the money and a 30 day suspension. Gee...where was my 30 day suspension? Meanwhile, I had a former mid-level supervisor get fired over a $50 mistake on a travel voucher. It was just so incredible......that they had such failing all over the empire...but couldn't wait to feast on my carcass for legitimate reasons of falter. Reasons and consequences that were to pale in comparison. I guess you could not fall in love within the empire, but you could fall into lust, depravity, sexual assault, cheating.......and a myriad of other offenses...so long as you were the ruling elite..

As I look back at it now...I am glad that I helped knock some of those bastards off of their sacred thrones.....that I cracked the walls of their ivory towers.....and brought down their regime. Sure, most were never made to suffer as they had made me....they were kept in the employ of the empire for the most part. But their reign was over. They were relagated to the outskirts of the empire....never again to hold the power they once had. But this small victory had a steep price.
Fate would make sure of that. The second war of redemption had come to a close. But as I soon discovered.....the empire was not done with me yet. They wanted revenge. They were not to be denied. But that is a story for episode 3........soon to come. Fin