The State : Huge Federal Loss Reported

More than $59 million worth of government property has vanished in the past three years from warehouses where the goods were to be held until sold, a supervisor who works at one of the facilities said. The allegation was made in a complaint filed with the federal Office of the Special Counsel, the San Francisco Examiner reported. Gerald Payton, supervisor for property disposal at the Defense Re-utilization and Marketing Office in Alameda, complained of “waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement.” He provided an 8-inch stack of documents supporting his complaint. A spokesman for the office said its fraud branch has opened an investigation into Payton’s allegations. Part of Payton’s job is to prepare inventories of the goods at the warehouse in Alameda and at Moffett Field Naval Air Station. The warehouses store all types of Defense Department material, except weapons.