Ex-federal worker faces possible 5-year sentence for lies about workplace Confederate flag incident
A former employee with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faces up to five years in prison for lying about a workplace incident involving a Confederate flag.
The former employee, 58-year-old Susan Thompson of Jacksonville, pleaded guilty last week to making false statements to a federal officer, according to a press release and stories by the Orlando Sentinel, First Coast News and the Florida Times-Union.
The federal officer, an inspector with the Federal Protective Service, was investigating how a picture of the Confederate battle flag ended up on the desk of an African-American employee. Thompson printed the flag image from her home computer and secretly placed it on the desk of the co-worker, with whom she had “a contentious working relationship and a history of loud workplace confrontations,” according to the press release.
Thompson twice denied she had placed the image on her co-worker’s desk in interviews with federal inspectors. She finally admitted she did it but denied any racial motivation. She quit her job to avoid being fired.
The incident occurred a week after nine people were shot and killed in June at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Related article:
ABAJournal.com: “Federal employee is indicted for alleged lies about Confederate flag picture in workplace incident”
