Tuesday the Navy confirmed televised reports that PMRF Commanding Officer Brian W. Moss was the subject of an Inspector General’s investigation that had been at least partially substantiated. According to a Channel 2 report, aired Monday night, Moss allegedly spent
Tuesday the Navy confirmed televised reports that PMRF Commanding Officer Brian W. Moss was the subject of an Inspector General’s investigation that had been at least partially substantiated.
According to a Channel 2 report, aired Monday night, Moss allegedly spent almost $180,000 on his on-base home and a pair of surrounding beach gazebos.
PMRF officials declined to comment on the specific charges and referred this newspaper to Pearl Harbor.
Lt. Commander Jane Campbell, the Navy’s top public relations officer based on O’ahu, confirmed Tuesday that Moss’s spending habits had been the subject of an I.G. Investigation, and that at least some of the allegations had been substantiated.
“It’s not like there is money missing. Money was used from the wrong pot of money (that) was earmarked for something and used for something else,” Campbell said.
Almost $32,000 earmarked for enlisted housing went into a remodel of Moss’s on-base home, according to the report.
Moss spent a total of $177,000 on perks that included carpet flown in, after he allegedly decided nothing available on Kaua’i was suitable.
“There was an ongoing complaint (against Moss) going back to last year. We immediately established an investigation team (last April),” Campbell added.
Campbell further stated that because of the investigation into Moss’s spending habits, spending procedures all along the chain of command have been changed “to preclude this happening again.”
Campbell said “appropriate disciplinary action was taken to resolve the matter.”
Campbell said further possible (criminal) charges against Moss would be decided upon by someone not in the Pacific Region.
“Anything else would come from D.C.,” Campbell noted.
Campbell said that currently Rear Admiral Robert T. Conway Jr., was “the go-to guy” for complaints like the one made against Captain Moss.
“We took all those (spending and requisitioning) responsibilities back. We have a program manager for all housing issues (in Hawai’i) even at PMRF, and a civilian property manager (for civilian housing), ” Campbell said.
Moss assumed command of PMRF in November of 1999. He was commissioned in 1972 after graduating from the University of Michigan’s Aerospace Engineering program earlier that same year.
TGI staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681, Ext. 252, or e-mail mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net.
