Employee Complaints Disputed : Zoo Ponders Further Interviews in Drug Probe

Officials at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park and a private investigative firm hired to do an in-house inquiry have concluded an initial series of interviews of employees about alleged drug use and sales on the job.

The controversial questioning of employees began Monday and continued through Wednesday following a four-month investigation done by the San Diego firm of Kennedy Consulting & Investigations Inc. Zoo employees said as many as 60 people were taken by van to a downtown office building and questioned during the three days.

“Today we are not conducting interviews,” said Jeff Jouett, a spokesman for the Zoological Society of San Diego. “We are assessing information and determining if further interviews are warranted.”

Teamsters Awaiting Results

Bill Martin, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 481, which represents about 800 employees at the zoo and Wild Animal Park, said zoo officials informed him that the interviews had been concluded and that they were determining which employees needed to be disciplined.

“We’re going to sit back and await the results of the investigation. We should know by next week what our next move will be,” Martin said. “ . . . We will certainly react in the best interest of the people that we represent.”

Jouett said some employees were suspended with pay during the three days of questioning. The employees were suspended because “of their level of involvement,” Jouett said. They could receive further disciplinary action that could include letters of reprimand, longer suspensions or firings, he added.

On Thursday, Jouett denied reports by some employees that they were threatened with dismissal unless they agreed to answer questions about drug use and sales at the zoo.

“I’ve talked with people who were conducting the interviews, and they never threatened anybody with dismissal,” Jouett said. “ . . . If people chose not to go to the interviews, they could have been suspended without pay for insubordination for not doing what the supervisors asked them to do.”

According to Jouett, every employee voluntarily agreed to be questioned by the private investigators and zoo officials, and nobody had to be warned about being insubordinate for refusing to answer questions. However, some employees told The Times that they agreed to talk under duress and because they were told that they could be fired if they refused to cooperate.

Jouett also denied that as many as 60 employees were questioned, but refused to say how many were.

Won’t Pursue Charges

John W. Kennedy, head of the investigative firm hired by zoo officials, declined to comment on the probe or the interrogations.

Jouett said the zoo does not intend to “pursue criminal action” against employees found to have used or sold drugs at work.

“People interviewed by the zoo are not subject to police action,” Jouett said. “The information is being gathered for disciplinary decisions. The people involved in selling or using drugs on the job are subject to termination, suspension or reprimands.”

However, police narcotics investigators said arrest warrants will be issued in a few days for some zoo employees. Narcotics officers from the San Diego Police Narcotics Street Team worked with the private investigators in the probe.

Officers were present when private investigators purchased small amounts of marijuana and methamphetamines from some zoo employees, a narcotics officer told The Times.

Jouett also said that information gathered by zoo officials about employees will not be released to police. Employees disciplined as a result of the probe will have information about their illegal activities placed in their personnel files.

Employees who were questioned and furnished information about drug use and sales will not have their statements included in their personnel files.