Hoping to save their foundering efforts to build a DNA lab, D.C. officials manipulated public funds to hire a nationally renowned forensic dentist, paying him as an architectural consultant.

William Vosburgh will earn more than $230,000 under a one-year contract given to a Fairfax architecture firm, documents obtained by The Examiner show. Vosburgh is supposed to help the District train and recruit DNA technicians so that D.C. can have its own forensic lab.

City officials said they paid Vosburgh from a federal grant to help the District build its $218 million DNA lab.

Federal law forbids officials from spending appropriated money for anything other than its appropriated purpose. Vosburgh was paid under a construction management contract. Documents show that he is designated as the project manager.

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The unusual contract was created because Vosburgh wanted more money than D.C. police had budgeted for the lab director’s position, according to one government source.

The source spoke to The Examiner on condition of anonymity because of a fear of retribution from supervisors.

Tone Esse, one of the D.C. contracting officials who brought Vosburgh in, defended the contract.

“We used a valid contract vehicle,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday. “It was reviewed by legal counsel at Contracting and Procurement.”

Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office blasted the District — especially the Office of Contracting and Procurement — for its lax guardianship over public dollars.

Vosburgh is paid under a contract awarded to Setty & Associates Ltd., a Fairfax architectural firm. According to its Web site, Setty & Associates focuses on heating and air conditioning, telephone systems and plumbing.

Setty founder Boggarm S. Setty told The Examiner that he “doesn’t recall” making the arrangement. A July 24, 2006 e-mail obtained by The Examiner shows that Setty discussed Vosburgh’s job description with Esse.

Esse said Vosburgh is paid to give advice on constructing the DNA lab.

The job description memos obtained by The Examiner don’t say anything about construction advice. They say that he will help the police staff and equip their lab and develop policies for collecting, storing and testing evidence.

“I apologize,” Esse said. “I don’t have that [memo] right in front of me.”

Vosburgh did not respond to requests for comment.

D.C. police have relied for decades on the FBI lab at Quantico to test their evidence. The District accounts for more than one-third of the FBI’s caseload at Quantico and the FBI has said it’s overburdened with work of its own.

In early 2006, DNA lab director Kevin Miller walked out in disgust over the lack of support for his efforts.

By that summer, the city’s DNA program was sputtering. The District had received millions to hire, train and certify DNA scientists, but had let much of the money sit untouched. Two potential lab technicians had quit and others would leave for better-paying jobs soon after they were certified.

Hoping that Vosburgh would make things right, a group of city officials from the D.C. police department and the Office of Contracting and Procurement met in Ed Reiskin’s office last summer to discuss ways of bringing him to D.C., the government source said.

Reiskin was the deputy mayor of public safety and justice. He told the officials at the meeting he wanted to hire Vosburgh immediately, the source said.

Reiskin, now a consultant for the D.C. school board, did not respond to requests for comment.

Bad blood?

Unsolved violent crimes that could have DNA evidence:

» About 3,600 rape cases in the city dating back to 1982. Thousands of them still are within the statute of limitations.

» Untold thousands of homicides, dating back to the late 1960s.

Source: D.C. police department

bmyers@dcexaminer.com

smccabe@dcexaminer.com