Editorial: No conspiracy
We’ve been critical of the actions of David Shepard and Bill Marvel, two tenants of the Grand Junction Regional Airport who instigated a federal “whistleblower” case that triggered a wide-ranging probe of possible wrongdoing at the airport.
No criminal charges were filed. Investigators uncovered some questionable paperwork – errors on two change orders on a fence project – but no scheme to defraud the federal government as Shepard and Marvel alleged.
A recent letter to the editor by a former FBI special agent who investigated the case on behalf of the Airport Authority cautioned us not to reach a false conclusion.
“As a basic principle, the (Department of Justice) decision not to pursue criminal charges should not be construed as an ‘absence of wrongdoing,’?” Jane Quimby wrote in her letter, adding that she found Marvel and Shepard to be “honorable men” motived by a genuine desire to expose fraud.
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marianne.goodland@coloradopolitics.com
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