Evening star., 1938-01-22
Stitely's "Phantom Employee
Venture Ends With Sentence
Pay Day Illness Led to Discovery of
sS4,SS0 Pay Roll Fraud by High.
Liuing u. S. Clerk.

The mystery of the Shenandoah
National Parks phantom blister rust
checkers and of the unexplained A.
fiuence Of $4,000 Government pay
clerk reached grim climax yesterda;
when Reno E. Stitely. former employt
OF the National Park Service, was
sentenced to serve e-to-l2-yea,
prison term and pay a $3e, 5000 fine TO,
embezzlement.
The relation between the mythical
messengers Of mercy to rust-ridden
trees and the dazzling life led by Mr.
Stitely did not become apparent unit
believe or not-last April Fools
day.
1t was on that day that discovery
first was made that certain vouchers
made out by Mr.. Stitely to the tree
missionaries and other Temporary
employees In the Shenandoah and
other parks required careful investi-
cation.
S84,SS0 Scheme Revealed.
That investigation. conducted BY
two special agents Of the Interior De-
partment's Division Of Investigation
ended In disclosure OF an amazing
$84.880 fraudulent pay roll scheme
that had been practiced, undetected.
Tor nearly four years by the high
living former chief of the Park Serv-
ices voucher unit.
The report of the Investigators led
TO the arrest Of Mr.. Stitely on April
a last, to his subsequent indictment
on IL counts Of forgery and false
presentation Of vouchers, and to his
eventual plea Of guilty to nine Of the
counts after first pleading innocent
in District Court.
Two things contributed to Mr..
Stitelys downfall. according to evil
dence made public by the Senate Pub.
lie Lands Committee. One was the
fact that Mr.. Stitely was i'll one pay
day and q substitutes suspicious were
aroused by woman clerks innocent
inquiry about Mr. Stitely's little
voucher" which she had been in the
habit OF receiving for payment. The
second was a curt memorandum from
the Treasury notifying the Park Serv-
ice that Emergency Conservation Work
funds to its credit were nearly ex-
hausted, whereas there should have
been a $1,000 balance.
Looks Into Little Voucher"
The woman clerk in the Army Fl
nance Once told the substitute ac-
cording to testimony before the COM
mittee, that Mr.. Stitely always brought
little voucher" along with the reg
ular big voucher" covering emer-
gency employees at Civilian Conserva-
tion Corps camps. The substitute
knew nothing about little voucher"
but proceeded to find out.
A copy Of the finding of investi-
gators was inserted in the Congress
sional Record by Senator Pittman,
Democrat, Of Nevada, who is q mem
Der Of the Public Lands Committee.
The committee Is inquiring at length
into the Stitely case as an outgrowth
OF the hearings on the nomination
of Ebert K. Burlew to be First A.
sistant Secretary of the Interior.
The report Of the agents asserted
that Mr.. Stitely had falsif1ed 1874
pay roll vouchers covering LIS checks
for a total Of $S4,8s0.03 over the
near-four-year period.
His system, according to the report
placed in the Record, was to make
out fake vouchers to non-existent
emergency" workers in the parks,
chiefly the Shenandoah National
Park; take them personally to the
Army Finance ONCE; receive the
checks made out to the employees"
for the ostensible purpose of forward.
ing them to the parks; forge indorse-
ments on the checks and, finally,
cash them at his bank.