When the National Park Service wanted to expand its social media reach, this is not what it had in mind: A chief ranger at Canaveral National Seashore used his Facebook account to malign a former park employee, according to the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General.

The case arose when allegations were made that the chief ranger had made critical remarks about the former employee on the website of Florida Today, which had run an article in January 2015 about Candace Carter winning a whistleblower case against her bosses at the seashore.

As Traveler reported last January, Ms. Carter, a biologist, had raised questions about improper contracting practices and was wrongly penalized for her actions.

The case rose up in April 2011 around Dr. Carter's concerns over how contracting decisions were made at the national seashore along the Florida coastline. Specifically, she alleged that contracts for the construction of a building were broken down into "split purchases" to avoid going through competitive bidding, and that there was nepotism involved in awarding some of the contracts.

A resulting Office of Inspector General investigation found evidence to support the complaints, Civil Service administrative judge noted in her 65-page decision. More so, she found the seashore's superintendent, Myrna Palfrey, didn't act when the allegations were brought to her attention.

In the ruling, Judge Pamela B. Jackson of the federal Merit Systems Protection Board directed the National Park Service to upgrade Dr. Carter's October 2012 performance rating to "superior," allow her to take administrative leave for any medical needs, and make good on any back pay she was owed. 

The biologist was terminated from the Park Service in October 2014 for medical reasons related to a tick-borne disease. She had applied for disability retirement.

In a summary report released Wednesday, the OIG said that "(O)ur investigation found that the chief ranger, when off-duty, commented on the article using his home computer while logged into his personal Facebook account, which identified him as an NPS ranger. When interviewed, the chief ranger admitted to writing derogatory claims against the former employee that he said were his opinions and not those of the park superintendent or NPS.

"We determined that these public comments were unbecoming of an NPS law enforcement manager and may have violated the NPS Law Enforcement Code of Conduct. We provided this report to the NPS Director for review and action."

The comments to the story were not accessible Thursday, but according to a story in E&E News, the chief ranger wrote, "(D)oes anybody know that this whistleblower took over two years in leave abusing the system, taking advantage of volunteers twice older than her an doing the job for her, did you know that all her complaints were racially bias against african americans and latinos..."

How Director Jon Jarvis will handle the matter is hard to say, as personnel decisions are covered by privacy laws that limit what the Park Service can say publicly.