MIAMI - Customs Service officials trumped up charges against an inspector who had complained publicly about lax security and cronyism, an arbitrator has ruled.
Officials showed malice, ignored agency rules, twisted facts and disregarded the truth when they threatened to fire and then suspended Croley Forester for missing six pounds of cocaine in a package at Miami International Airport, arbitrator Mollie H. Bowers wrote in a binding ruling.
Her ruling, ordering the agency to clear Forester's record, comes almost one year after Customs Commissioner Raymond Kelly promised Congress that his agency would no longer target whistleblowers.
Forester said the ruling issued last week shows that Kelly's statement ''was just another load of empty promises.''
Agency officials would not comment, saying their lawyers were reviewing the ruling.
Forester, 46, has long been an outspoken critic of Customs operations in Miami, having complained to Congress and The Miami Herald about problems he saw at the airport. His revelations helped lead to changes at the airport.
Last November, officials started taking steps to fire Forester, accusing him of lying about inspecting the package.
After it was determined he actually had inspected the package but missed the cocaine, Forester was suspended for the maximum 14 days even though he had a spotless record during a 13-year career. He had won 29 commendations and seized about 15,000 pounds of cocaine.
Officials ''went to great lengths to contrive unwarranted, groundless charges in order to get Forester,'' Bowers wrote.
Other inspectors who had missed drugs were not disciplined, Bowers noted.
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