Thou Shalt Not Steal

Eugene Clark, an employee of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saw that certain documents in the agency's confidential open case file could be helpful in a discrimination lawsuit he was pursuing against EEOC. So without authorization, he took the documents, and his attorney introduced them during district court proceedings in 1989. The EEOC discovered what Clark had done and fired him. And the Merit Systems Protection Board upheld the dismissal.

Many people might be shocked to discover that taking or using agency documents, even when they are shown only to their own lawyers, is a major offense. This rule applies even if the government does not have exclusive possession of the documents, or if the agency already had given copies to the employee or would have been obligated to share the records under the Freedom of Information Act or trial discovery processes. It doesn't matter whether the property is merely a photocopy or intangible information, such as a FedEx number, the amount of a competitive bid or the name of someone who has aided a government investigation. The statute covering theft and conversion of property (18 U.S.C. 641) applies to more than just material that has been physically removed from the premises.