June 30, 2012 โ The special agent in charge of federal fish cops in the Northwest has been removed from her position while internal government investigators pore over documents from her Seattle office, sources say.
Vicki Nomura, who has overseen law enforcement for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle for a decade, was abruptly replaced in mid-May by an official from the agency's headquarters in Silver Spring, Md.
Her office was the subject of attention earlier this year when it was disclosed that one of her agents had paid $300,000 for a luxury boat without following proper bidding procedure, then used the boat for social outings with friends and family.
Officials at the Fisheries Service declined to comment on the latest investigation. An email written by the agency's new director of law enforcement, Bruce Buckson, to his staff said Nomura "has been temporarily detailed to HQ staff for an undetermined length of time."
But several sources with knowledge of the situation said the agency's head of law enforcement told staff in Seattle that the U.S. Commerce Department's inspector general was conducting an internal investigation of Nomura and of operations in Seattle.
Read the full story at the Seattle Times.