The Expanding Problem: VA Police File Keeps Gaining Weight — Enabled by Phoenix VA Executives

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Phoenix VA Health Care System (PVAHCS) "Executive Leadership" didn’t just look the other way — they helped build a compromised federal police department and then kept the problem on the payroll. One official stacked up sustained findings for sexual harassment and racial discrimination, and instead of removing him, leadership signed the paperwork, gave him a seat at the morning meetings, and let the whole mess keep gaining weight. Accountability got skipped. The badges stayed dirty. And the executives made sure the problem never went on a diet.

THE TAXPAYER-FUNDED OFFICIAL WHO REFUSES TO SHRINK

At the Phoenix VA, some problems don’t get fixed. They put on weight.

The same Phoenix VA Police Leadership Official who collected a sustained finding for "inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature" and a Title VII racial discrimination violation (based on Race: African-American) has not only kept his badge and his influence — the surrounding controversy has been bulked up. This is the same official who operated for years under the direct oversight of Phoenix VA Health Care System Director Elijah Ditter and Associate Director Stacey Scherpf, until the recent transition of VA Police under Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness (OSP). Each new complaint, each new formal notice, each new public airing of the completed findings adds another layer. The file does not shrink. It keeps packing on the pounds of paperwork, taxpayer cost, and institutional embarrassment.

THE FILE THAT REFUSES TO CUT WEIGHT

What started as individual reports has become a running ledger that refuses to cut weight:

• Sustained Sexual Harassment Findings
• Sustained Racial Harassment Findings
• Violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Race
• Multiple EEO filings
• HPP referrals
• OAWP submissions
• Formal Open Letters
• More to come once FOIA results are received

Almost all of it centers on the same supervisory official. The paper trail keeps lengthening. The institutional cost keeps adding mass. The problem keeps getting heavier.

THEY SIGNED THE PAPERWORK. THEN THEY KEPT THE PROBLEM.

They didn’t just inherit this. They signed the paperwork.

When the Harassment Prevention Program sustained the sexual-conduct findings, Associate Director Stacey Scherpf put her name on the memoranda and finalizing documents. The Privacy Act has allowed these findings to remain a dark secret, shielded from broader scrutiny even as the official kept his position and influence.

It seems PVAHCS Executive Leadership allowed a Hostile Work Environment (HWE) to manifest in human form — one that carried influence from the top and helped permeate the hospital with a culture of sexual and racial harassment.

The Morning Meetings and Acting Chief of Police Scandal

Then the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) allowed the official into their morning meetings anyway — and even “Crowned” him while the agency appointed him "Acting Chief of Police" — multiple times. Longevity, friendship, and familiarity apparently still outweigh completed findings of harassment. The result is a leadership team that has now publicly linked its own reputation to the continued presence of someone the agency itself already ruled against — and the weight of that choice continues to grow.

• No Ozempic for this problem. No quick cut. Just more mass added to the record every month.

OSP PROMISED A DIET. THE BULK CONTINUED

Assistant Secretary Reginald G. A. Neal has spent 2026 telling Congress that the new unified chain of command under OSP would finally bring standards, discipline, and real accountability to VA Police. In testimony he emphasized that law-enforcement leaders would now enforce consistency and correct long-standing deficiencies.

• That was the promise.

Things Were So Bad – the Chief of OSP Stopped By

On February 11, 2026, Patrick L. Hernandez, Chief of OSP, personally visited the Phoenix VA Police Department. He heard some things that day.

At least one official, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Ian Dinesen, has taken action on multiple occasions. Those efforts are noted and appreciated.

The reality, however, still includes a supervisory official with multiple major substantiated findings who remains in a position of influence while the record around him keeps adding weight. Director Elijah Ditter, Associate Director Stacey Scherpf, and now senior OSP officials appear not to grasp how serious a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 actually is.

These Cases Will Be Used As Evidence In Future EEOs and Lawsuits

That finding will be cited in upcoming lawsuits and EEO cases for the next decade or more as clear evidence of the Phoenix VA Health Care System’s failure to address unlawful discrimination. The new national structure was supposed to put the old pattern of protection on a diet. So far, the bulk continues.

THE MATH THAT WON’T SLIM DOWN

• Findings: complete. 
• Removal: still pending.
• Paper trail: heavier.
• Taxpayer cost: higher.
• Accountability: unchanged.

Even the TRT-level confidence on display can’t shrink a record this size. The problem is no longer subtle. It is expanding in the official documentation, in the morning meetings, and in every new entry that makes the inaction harder to ignore.

• One year later, the badges are still dirty. And the problem just keeps gaining weight.

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Concerned Citizens AZ Investigative Team —  Documenting the Growing Liability the PVACHS Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and OSP Refuses to Cut Loose.

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READER NOTICE

Concerned Citizens Media encourages readers to independently verify the information contained in this publication, including through public records, official sources, or AI-assisted research tools. For additional information or clarification, readers are encouraged to contact appropriate Department of Veterans Affairs officials or their local VA facility directly.

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DISCLAIMER

Any attempt to retaliate against current or former VA employees, officers, contractors, or witnesses for engaging in protected whistleblower or EEO activity related to the matters discussed herein may constitute a violation of federal law, including 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(8)–(9), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and applicable VA anti‑retaliation policies. Documentation, reporting, or public discussion of substantiated misconduct, harassment, discrimination, or policy violations is protected activity.