EmployeeScreenIQ Blog

It’s that time of year again.  A time for us to enjoy what we all know is the Super Bowl of all holidays, Thanksgiving!  And in honor of the season, we again offer up our annual Background Check turkey honorees.  So without further ado, I give you this year’s Turkeys.

• Lisa Dorhauer who stole over $46,000 from a children’s charity.  Avoidable?  Most definitely.  She had two theft convictions on her record at the time of her hiring.
• Cookie Monster.  Okay, not the real Cookie Monster.  But the Iowa State Fair hired a registered sex offender to greet children in regaled in this character’s costume.  Needless to say, they neglected to conduct a background check.
• Donald Johnson, a NASDAQ employee defrauded investors out  of $750,000.  Guess what, Johnson admitted to consuming Schedule II drugs while on duty as a nurse and falsifying hospital records in order to steal these drugs from the hospital he worked at.
• The EEOC, for overzealous prosecution of not one, but at least two cases this year against employers for unfair background check practices which led to them being penalized (and in turn taxpayers) for nearly $4,000,000.
• Kazimierz Karasek, a truck driver who made an illegal left turn which resulted in his crashing his semi into a commuter train.  Mr. Karasek had over 50 moving violations on his record since 1986.
• The state of Massachussettes for continuing to insist the their state criminal record index, CORI is the only way to conduct background checks.  Tell that to victims of rape, child abuse and a myriad criminal activities in which the perpetrators were convicted of similar crimes outside of the state.
• Peter Gwinnell, and UK man who was hired as a bank CEO after claims of being Oxford and Harvard educated and past employment at JP Morgan.  It turns out that none of those claims were true.
• Adam Wheeler, a man who faked his way into Harvard after claiming to have attended MIT and a prestigious prep school.  Again, neither of these claims were true.  After being convicted for these offenses, Wheeler was recently arrested again for trying to get a job after claiming he graduated from Harvard.

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for now.  Need to make our annual pilgrammage to Cleveland for Turkey Day.  Have a safe and happy holiday.  But before I go, take a moment to enjoy my favorite Thanksgiving song of all time.

P.S. This post is dedicated to our director of business development, John Sferry; the only man who loves Thanksgiving as much as I do.

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Well let’s chalk this one up to a bad candidate experience.  Mike Bauer was recently awarded a $75,000 judgment because he was incarcerated for 37 days after an employment background check erroneously indicated that he failed to pay child support.

And while we usually blame the screening company or the employer for mistakes such as these, in this instance, it was the Jefferson County, MO court who made the mistake.

The article doesn’t say why or how Bauer was arrested, but I suppose the company that wanted to hire him must have alerted the authorities.  Not only did it take 37 days to determine that the conviction didn’t belong to him, but as a result he lost his job and his home.

Yikes!

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Question: What do the producers of Sesame Street and the Iowa City Fair have in common?

Answer:  They both don’t want the publicity they drew when it was discovered that the fair hired a registered sex offender convicted in 2005 of lascivious acts with a 7 year old girl to wear a Cookie Monster costume and greet children.

I don’t know, just a thought, but do you think maybe the fair should have conducted an employment background check?  Between a criminal record search and a check of the sex offender registry they most surely would have discovered that maybe the should move on to the next applicant.  But hey, that’s just me.

According to Reuters,  “The owner of the costume company that hired Rogers says that they did not run a background check. The owner said that Rogers needed a job, so he was put to work almost immediately. Rogers would have also been sent to work at other private events and birthday parties if he hadn’t been discovered by a parole supervisor who recognized him at the fair.”

Thank goodness nothing happened.

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Wanted to give a special shout out to Lisa Dorhauer who is accused of stealing $46,000 from a charitable organization that provides social services for children.  You win this week’s award for the most despicable human being.  Here’s your reward.

Unfortunately, the organization she stole from could have done a better job conducting a background check as she had two theft convictions on her record from before she was hired.

Woman Accused of Stealing from Charity Had Criminal Record

A Williamson County woman accused of stealing $46,000 from a local charity had two theft convictions before she was hired, but the nonprofit didn’t look at her criminal record until after she was believed to be stealing.

Lisa Dorhauer, 55 , was arrested by Williamson County sheriff’s deputies Monday. She faces a felony theft charge and is accused of stealing while working as an administrative assistant for Lutheran Social Services of the South, which provides services for children, seniors and disaster victims. She is accused of embezzling money by submitting phony expense reports over a two-year period.

Dorhauer could not be reached for comment. She was released from jail Monday on a $15,000 bond.

“I think this is an isolated incident of one person who stole from the agency,” spokesman Scott Carroll said. “The agency still does a lot of good work. We provide services to a lot of people who need it.”

Court documents show that Dorhauer has two thefts on her record. But the information escaped the attention of Lutheran Social Services employees, even though they had records in their possession.

Carroll said the nonprofit ran a background check on Dorhauer when she was hired in 2007. It was done through the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services , which flags candidates considered to be a threat to children.

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Lying is so common these days, well, its kind of why the background screening industry exists.  As screeners we see it everyday, some could say we even become numb to it after a while.    Because of this I like to highlight stories I find on the internet that may give a little “shock and awe” to the general public.

This guy get’s my vote for moron of the week but I will let you be the judge.  A Pennsylvanian Pastor, Jim Moats,  had been telling his congregation for years that he was a former Navy SEAL.  In the wake of the Osama Bin Laden killing, a local paper interviewed him about his time as a SEAL during the Vietnam war.  The story smells a lot like past stories made up by current US Senators Mark Kirk and Richard Blumenthal.  In 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Stolen Valor Act into law–legislation that made it a federal crime to claim false military honors. A recent federal appellate court ruling determined that the law’s provisions were an unconstitutional abridgment of free speech. A version of the same legislation is now before Congress, with language designed to avoid the free-speech quandaries raised by the 2005 law.

My question is this, why not just go all the way and just say you are Osama Bin Laden, its easy enough!

Local pastor made up elaborate Navy SEAL tale

In the wake of the dramatic Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound earlier this month, it was perhaps to be expected that some expansive soul would step forward to claim the prestige of a fabricated tour as a SEAL for himself. Such tall tales are not uncommon, after all, amid high-profile military actions.

This time the exposed fabricator was a preacher–though people who monitor this brand of public lie note that members of the clergy are often tempted into such misrepresentations. More curious still, the prevaricator in question seems to have lifted at least some details of his account from the 1992 Steven Seagal SEAL-themed blockbuster, “Under Siege.”

Yes, as his area newspaper, the central Pennsylvania Patriot-News, pulled together a dispatch on the exploits of the elite Navy operation, Jim Moats, the pastor at Christian Bible Fellowship Church in Newville, Penn., spun some fantastical details of his alleged time as a Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War.

Moats told his church for five years that he was a former SEAL, and even once wore the elite program’s gold Trident medal around town. He elaborated on that tale when his local paper contacted him last week as it was reporting a story about the rigors of SEAL training in the wake of the SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound.

Among other things, Moats said he was subjected to waterboarding when he trained at Little Creek Amphibious Base in Virginia Beach in 1971 and was assigned dishwashing duty for his bad attitude. “I had almost no discipline. I was as wild as they came. That was my nemesis,” he told the paper. “They weren’t looking for a guy who brags to everyone he is a SEAL. They wanted somebody who was ready but had an inner confidence and didn’t have a braggadocio attitude.”

Several former SEALs wrote into The Patriot-News casting doubt on the reverend’s account of his service.

“We deal with these guys all the time, especially the clergy. It’s amazing how many of the clergy are involved in those lies to build that flock up,” said retired SEAL Don Shipley. Shipley also speculated the waterboarding and kitchen details came from the action depicted in “Under Siege.”

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Thank you Congressman Michael Vaughn.  It is folks like you who make background screeners like me excited about my next blog post.  You claimed on your website to have played for the Dallas Cowboys in 1980.  Not according to the Dallas Cowboys.  When questioned about this, you showed your NFL Players Alumni Association card.  And for $150, I too can be the proud owner of one of those bad boys.  Doh!

It gets better (or worse).  You next blamed your web developer for the misinformation and quickly pulled it off your website.  Well my friend, you might not have played for the Cowboys but you sure did fumble this one away.

This remind me of a situation I ran into several years ago.  I met a C-Level executive at a Fortune 100 organization several years ago whom I became friendly with.  When he was getting ready to invest in a new business, he asked me to perform a background check on the principals of the company he was interested in.  They, in turn asked him to submit to a background check as well.  They both engaged us to conduct the checks.  A day later, I got a phone call from this executive and he asked if our background check would reveal that he never played college basketball for a major university.  I didn’t have to ask why, but learned a valuable lesson.  People tell stupid lies for stupid reason and while those lies are inconsequential, they usually come back to bite you.

I’m sure Congressman Vaughn had nothing to gain other than propping up his ego for lying about his football exploits.  Was it worth it?

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Last week, President Obama called on congress to extend unemployment insurance. In a speech given on the White House lawn the president said, “We need to extend unemployment compensation benefits for women like Leslie Macko, who lost her job at a fitness center last year, and has been looking for work ever since. Because she’s eligible for only a few more weeks of unemployment, she’s doing what she never thought she’d have to do. Not at this point, anyway. She’s turning to her father for support.”

Well, she may be turning to her father for support, but she’s turning to her lawyer for advice about how to respond to reports that she was terminated from her job after being found guilty of prescription drug fraud. As Homer Simpson would say, “DOH!”

Team Obama might want to perform more thorough background checks in the future.

See story below from The Charlottesville Newspaper:

Charlottesville resident Leslie Macko was once employed at ACAC in the Albemarle Square Shopping Center. In April 2009, she lost her job as an aesthetician in the spa at ACAC.

President Barack Obama called on Congress last week to extend unemployment insurance. Macko stood next to the President of the United States as his example of the need to extend jobless benefits.

CBS19′s Jessica Jaglois has learned that Macko was found guilty of prescription drug fraud in March 2009, one month before Macko lost her job at ACAC. She served a one year probationary sentence.

Macko joined two other unemployed people and President Obama at the podium for a speech designed to encourage lawmakers to extend jobless benefits.

“We need to extend unemployment compensation benefits for women like Leslie Macko, who lost her job at a fitness center last year, and has been looking for work ever since. Because she’s eligible for only a few more weeks of unemployment, she’s doing what she never thought she’d have to do. Not at this point, anyway. She’s turning to her father for financial support,” Obama said in his speech.

ACAC owner Phil Wendel was unable to tell CBS19 if Macko was terminated because of the conviction. There’s also no indication from the court file that Macko lost her job because of the court case, or that she has received unemployment benefits improperly.

CBS19 contacted Leslie Macko about the conviction, and she declined to comment until she speaks with her attorney. We have also reached out to the White House to see if they know the full story behind the woman they chose to stand next to President Obama, but have not received comment from them either.

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Getting help in the home for a sick or aged loved one is always a big decision.  Not only is it costly, but it takes a leap of faith to trust that the people you hire are looking out for your best interests.  There are many reputable home health care companies out there that conduct thorough background checks on their staff and put the care of their patients first.  Unfortunately, there will always be those that give a bad name to an industry.  See this despicable story below.  This definitely qualifies as one of our stories of the absurd.

Cleveland Heights woman indicted for allegedly falsifying background checks of employees

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Notre Dame has fired their over-promising and under-performing head football coach, Charlie Weis.  Rumors are spreading like wildfire for who will replace Weis.  Especially after athletic director, Jack Swarbrick promised to return the school to the era of Knute Rockne, Ara Parseghian, Frank Leahy and Lou Hotlz.  We’ve already heard the names of some pretty heavy hitters as possible candidates: Tony Dungy, Bob Stoops, Jon Gruden, Urban Meyer, Kirk Ferentz, Gary Patterson, Brian Kelly and Jim Harbaugh.

Not a background check story? Think again.  Everyone remembers a few years back when Notre Dame hired an up and coming coach named George O’ Leary to return the team to prominence following a less than stellar performance by his predecessor Bob Davie.  Unfortunately, O’ Leary only lasted a couple days on the job and was unceremoniously terminated because the school found out through media reports that he committed resume fraud and lied about his academic credentials.  Doh!  A simple Education Verification would have saved them the embarrassment that followed.

Here’s hoping they decide to conduct a thorough background check on whoever they bring in.  It will save them time, money and unwanted media attention.

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Just pulled this story from Time Magazine.  The begs the question; When hiring employees in addition to thorough background checks and substance abuse testing should employers now begin testing blood sugar levels?

Eating Candy in Childhood Linked to Adult Crime

What parent hasn’t used candy to pacify a cranky child or head off a brewing tantrum? When reasoning, threats and time-outs fail, a sugary treat often does the trick. But while that chocolate-covered balm may be highly effective in the short term, say British scientists, it may be setting youngsters up for problem behavior later. According to a new study, kids who eat too many treats at a young age risk becoming violent in adulthood.

The research was led by Simon Moore, a senior lecturer in Violence and Society Research at Cardiff University in the U.K., who specializes in the study of vulnerable youngsters. Moore had been investigating the factors that lead children to commit serious crimes, when, during the course of his work, he discovered that “kids with the worst problems tend to be impulsive risk takers, and that these kids had terrible diets – breakfast was a Coke and a bag of chips,” he says. (Read “Why Media Could Be Bad for Your Child’s Health.”)

Intrigued by this association, Moore turned to the British Cohort Study, a long-term survey of 17,000 people born during a one-week period in April 1970. That study included periodic evaluations of many different aspects of the growing children’s lives, such as what they ate, certain health measures and socioeconomic status. Moore plumbed the data for information on kids’ diet and their later behavior: at age 10, the children were asked how much candy they consumed, and at age 34, they were questioned about whether they had been convicted of a crime. Moore’s analysis suggests a correlation: 69% of people who had been convicted of a violent act by age 34 reported eating candy almost every day as youngsters; 42% of people who had not been arrested for violent behavior reported the same. “Initially we thought this [effect] was probably due to something else,” says Moore. “So we tried to control for parental permissiveness, economic status, whether the kids were urban or rural. But the result remained. We couldn’t get rid of it.”

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