Unpublished Dispositionwaddell Reese, Petitioner, v. Department of the Air Force, Respondent, 824 F.2d 976 (Fed. Cir. 1987)

DECISION

The final decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board (board), docket No. SE07528610026, dated August 13, 1986, denying review of the presiding official's decision of February 19, 1986, which upheld the removal of Waddell Reese (Reese) by the Department of the Air Force (agency), is affirmed.

OPINION

The agency removed Reese on the basis of four charges: transporting stolen goods from on-base to off-base, transporting Filipino nationals in possession of tax-free goods from on-base to off-base, willful disregard of a direct order, and deliberate misrepresentation and falsification of material facts in connection with matters under official investigation. The presiding official sustained the last three charges, finding that the agency had failed to support the first with a preponderance of the evidence.

Reese attacks the board's decision as unsupported by substantial evidence. He claims that some of the witnesses lied or were unreliable. However, the presiding official made a determination that the agency's witnesses were more credible than Reese's denials, and such determinations are largely unreviewable by this court. Hambsch v. Department of the Treasury, 796 F.2d 430, 436 (Fed. Cir. 1986).

We must affirm the board's decision because we find it to be supported by substantial evidence, and not arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. 5 U.S.C. § 7703(c) (1982); see Hayes v. Department of the Navy, 727 F.2d 1535, 1537 (Fed. Cir. 1984).