Chapter 5 - The Investigation
The California National Guard inspector general's investigation began on the morning after the depot confrontation.
It was led by a colonel named Margaret Ellison. She was fifty-six years old. She had been an inspector general for nine years. She had investigated more supply fraud cases than she could count. She had come to Sacramento from the state headquarters with two investigators and a recorder and a very careful face.
She interviewed Audrey Mills for four hours on the first day. She interviewed Major Teresa Ochoa for two hours. She interviewed the county shelter coordinator for one hour. She interviewed the Red Cross liaison for forty-five minutes. She interviewed Luis Moreno for ninety minutes. She interviewed Deputy Elena Vasquez for two hours. She interviewed Richard Salazar for three hours in the Sacramento County Jail.
She interviewed Colonel Henry Ward for six hours on the third day.
She interviewed him a second time on the fifth day. She interviewed him a third time on the ninth day.
She interviewed the executive officer of the 115th Area Support Group — a major named Thomas Hargrove — for ninety minutes. She interviewed the soldiers who had been on duty at the depot on the day of the confrontation. She interviewed the truck driver who had delivered the fourth shipment. She interviewed the warehouse manager who had loaded it.
She read the log that Audrey Mills had kept. She read the delivery receipts. She read the executive officer's memorandum. She read the legal opinion that Colonel Ricardo Delgado had written on the twentieth of October.
The investigation produced a report. The report was 210 pages long. It was submitted to the adjutant general of the California National Guard on the twenty-eighth of November. It was made public in redacted form on the fifteenth of December.
The report found the following.
That Lieutenant Colonel Michael Ward had been stealing U.S. military relief supplies from National Guard warehouses in California for three years. That the total value of the stolen property was approximately 1.2 million dollars. That the thefts had occurred during non-emergency periods and during one emergency period — the October fire — during which Ward had sold approximately 340 blankets, 180 sleeping bags, 1,200 MREs, and 4,000 bottles of water to Richard Salazar for approximately 14,000 dollars.
That Colonel Henry Ward had known about his son's thefts since at least July of the year before. That he had not reported them. That he had, on three separate occasions, ordered subordinates to "lose" inventory records that would have documented the shortfall. That he had personally profited from his son's thefts by accepting approximately 90,000 dollars in cash that Michael Ward had used to purchase a family vacation home in Lake Tahoe.
That the executive officer of the 115th Area Support Group — Major Thomas Hargrove — had received three phone calls from Captain Audrey Mills reporting the shortfall in the fourth shipment. That Hargrove had not forwarded those reports up the chain of command. That he had instead told Captain Mills that she was "making a fuss about a clerical error" and that he would "handle it." That he had not handled it. That the reason he had not handled it was that he had been told by Colonel Henry Ward, in a private conversation in the colonel's office, to "make the problem go away."
That the fourth shipment had been short by 300 blankets because those 300 blankets had been diverted by Lieutenant Colonel Michael Ward at a warehouse in Stockton before the shipment ever left for Sacramento. That the diversion had been recorded on a shipping manifest that had been altered by Ward himself.
That the depot at the fairgrounds had received 2,100 blankets — not the 2,400 that the county had requested — and that Captain Audrey Mills had reported the shortfall three times, in writing, to her chain of command, and had been told three times to stop making a fuss.
And finally, the report found the following.
That Captain Audrey Mills had acted with "exceptional professionalism, exceptional judgment, and exceptional courage" during the events of the sixteenth of October. That she had not left her post when ordered to do so. That she had insisted on a written relief with a reason and in front of witnesses. That she had, in doing so, preserved the integrity of the log that became the primary evidence in the investigation. That she had, by her conduct, protected the families she was serving and the reputation of the California National Guard.
That Captain Mills's refusal to obey Colonel Henry Ward's order of the sixteenth of October was justified by the legal opinion of the state judge advocate and by the provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and of Army regulations and federal statutes cited therein.
The report recommended that Captain Audrey Mills be awarded the California National Guard Commendation Medal and that she be promoted to major effective the fifteenth of December.
She was promoted to major in a ceremony at the state headquarters in Sacramento on the fifteenth of December. Her father — a retired chief warrant officer who had driven down from Redding — pinned the rank on her shoulder. Her mother — a retired schoolteacher who had driven down with him — cried through the entire ceremony. Her brother — a firefighter with the Los Angeles County Fire Department — stood at attention in his dress uniform and did not cry at all, but his hands shook.
Luis Moreno was there.
He was in his dress uniform — the dark blue of the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District — and he stood at the back of the room with his hands folded and his face still and his eyes on the ceremony. He did not say anything. He did not need to.
After the ceremony, Major Mills walked up to him.
"Captain Moreno," she said.
"Major Mills."
"Thank you for coming."
"I would not have missed it."
They stood in the back of the room for a long time.
Then they walked out into the sunshine together.
The investigation was not the end.
May you like
It was the beginning.
Because in March, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Ward was going to go on trial. And in the trial, the log that Captain Mills had kept was going to be entered into evidence. And the blanket that Luis Moreno had bought for four dollars was going to be entered into evidence. And the legal opinion that Colonel Ricardo Delgado had written was going to be entered into evidence. And the whole story — the whole thing, the whole nightmare, the whole truth — was going to come out.
