A District of Columbia firefighter training class for disadvantaged youth has been suspended to allow the fire chief to investigate residency discrepancies.
Fire Chief Adrian H. Thompson wants to find out whether applicants to the Fire Cadet Program had lied about their residency, reports The Washington Times. The class was set to start at the end of last month.
Thompson's department has also returned more than $200,000 in federal funds because it could not find enough participants for the Fire Cadet Program, the report said.
"We have reviewed quite a few (applicants') folders ... and we have found discrepancies, and we are in the process of notifying (the D.C. Department of Employment Services) that there are problems with certain applicants," Thompson told a committee hearing.
There are also questions regarding the number of graduates from program reported to the U.S. Department of Labor.
© Copyright 2006 by United Press International
