A notorious pornography watcher at the Environmental Protection Agency admitted to masturbating while at work, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
E&E News reported Thursday that two employees who watched up to six hours of porn a day apologized for their actions.
U.S. EPA employees caught watching pornography on the job expressed surprise, boredom and ultimately regret for their actions, according to documents obtained by E&E News under the Freedom of Information Act.
Investigators for the EPA inspector general secured sworn statements by employees "A" and "B" — two agency workers who were found to be viewing and downloading porn while at work. Those records, along with the agency watchdog's investigative reports, shed more light on cases that have become a national embarrassment for EPA, leading to hearings, legislation and ridicule on Capitol Hill.
One employee identified only as "Employee A," admitted to going to the bathroom to masturbate at work.
"They asked me if I had behaved inappropriately in my cube hinting that they had found evidence of semen on my laptop," the employee said in his statement. "I told them I did not masturbate in the cubicle but admitted that I had done so while sitting on the toilet in the mens room."
The employee was a geologist in EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. He earned $120,000 a year and received bonuses while spending an average of two to six hours per day watching porn on the job. He downloaded more than 7,000 pornographic files on an agency server.
The employee continued to be paid for nearly two years after he was caught watching porn. An agent with the EPA's inspector general caught the employee in September 2013, but the employee was not placed on paid leave until eight months later. He received paid leave for nearly a year, and retired in April 2015.
Another EPA employee was caught after a child saw him watching porn at work on "Bring Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day."
"This constitutes a mistake and a lack of judgement on my side and I am sorry for the judgement [sic]," the employee said in a sworn statement.
"He confessed to viewing porn at work, taking about an hour or more during each workday in looking at 'facebook & twitter accounts' that linked to websites with 'photos of nude people,'" E&E News reported.
Unlike the other employee, he said he did not masturbate at the EPA.
"I never masturbated at the office or any EPA facility," the employee said, but told agents "body fluids" they "noticed may have been the result of [redacted] disinfecting my hands after going to the bathroom."
It is unclear whether the employee is still with the agency, and the EPA would not comment on his employment status.
"While we cannot and will not comment on this specific matter, EPA policies prohibit accessing pornography using government resources, and discipline for any employee proven to have done so is up to and including removal from federal service," EPA spokeswoman Monica Lee told E&E News.