The chief operating officer of the Federal Housing Finance Authority was recently arrested on charges that he threatened to kidnap or injure his supervisor. It is claimed that the person arrested had been making increasingly threatening remarks concerning this supervisor for a significant period of time.

The alleged threats were said to have escalated on April 28 when the individual arrested had a conversation with another employee. This employee then reported the conversation onto authorities and this eventually resulted in the felony arrest.

It’s difficult to know from what information we have how such a contentious situation arose. It was reported that there was a disagreement over an assessment of this individual’s job performance by his supervisor. Bad feelings apparently persisted for a number of weeks.

It does appear that this individual has held a number of responsible positions through the years, however. He had reportedly been working in various management roles with the FHFA for over 25 years. According to the FHFA director (a former North Carolina congressman), this individual’s duties as COO apparently have been taken over by another person in the FHFA.

As in many circumstances where misunderstandings arise, there is often more than one side to each story. This can especially be true at the workplace where tensions often interfere with individuals getting along. We do need each side to be given the opportunity to tell their side of the story when arrests of this nature occur. It requires more than accusations alone for a conviction to take place.

Those individuals that happen to be arrested are allowed to have an attorney represent them and to describe in an objective manner what really did happen.