Cover Page MENU     Contents     Acknowledgements     Brief History of the CCC      NPS Role     NPS Camps     Contributions     Overall Accomplishments     Appendix     Bibliography		The Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service, 1933-1942: An Administrative History Chapter Two: The National Park Service Role Black enrollees drawing bedding. Courtesy of the National Archives. ADMINISTRATIVE RELATIONSHIPS: The Embezzlement Issue--Internal Corruption On April 1, 1937, Robert Jennings, head of the accounting division of the Park Service, received a telephone call from the Army finance office asking for Reno E. Stitely, chief of the voucher unit, to pick up the payroll checks for CCC men at Shenandoah National Park. Jennings was surprised by this request since pay normally was sent to the camps for distribution and not to his office. He, however, had the presence of mind to go to the finance office and take the checks. This was the beginning of the most sensational case of embezzlement in CCC history. An investigation was begun immediately and culminated in the arrest of Stitely on April 27 for falsifying 134 payroll vouchers comprising 1,116 checks which amounted to $84,880.03. [43] The embezzlements began in 1933 when Stitely was named in a letter from the director of the Park Service to the Army Finance Office as being authorized to approve bills for pay. Using this authority Stitely forged the name of the superintendent of Shenandoah National Park to a letter which authorized him to sign for payroll vouchers. Stitely created fictitious ECW personnel, submitted falsified payroll vouchers for them, picked up their payroll checks, forged their names on these checks, and deposited the checks in various savings accounts around the Washington area. He used the money to buy cars, a house, and stocks, and to throw lavish parties. After Stitely was caught, it was alleged that he had created "dummy" CCC camps. Actually, his fictitious people were assigned to no particular camp. On January 7, 1938, Stitely pleaded guilty to nine charges of forgery and embezzlement, was sentenced to 6-12 years in prison, and fined $36,000. Senator Gerald P. Nye (North Dakota) of the Senate Public Lands Committee held hearings on the Park Service and War Department accounting systems in an effort to prevent such incidents from recurring. This type of fraud remained an isolated incident, but it left a blot on the fiscal records of the National Park Service. [44]
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