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Mark Segraves is the lead reporter for the WTOP Investigative Unit. In 2007, Segraves was awarded the Robert D.G. Lewis Watchdog Award by the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalist for his work in uncovering thousands of missing laptop computers in the federal government.

The missing laptops contained the personal information of hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens putting them at risk of identity theft. Segraves' reports led to congressional hearings and new legislation.

The Washington Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners named Segraves the Fraud Examiner of the Year in 2007 for his body of work uncovering waste, fraud and abuse in both local and federal government. Segraves comes from a family of journalists.

His father, the late John Segraves, was a columnist for the Washington Star for 17 years until his death. His mother was a general assignment reporter at The (Baltimore) Sun, where she met her husband. She recently retired as a staff editor for the Futurist magazine and spends her days listening for her son on the radio.

Segraves joined WTOP Radio after serving as an investigative producer at ABC 7 News. He has been a frequent guest analyst on WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi Show, NewsChannel 8's NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt, and the Politics Program with that "other Mark" from WTOP. Prior to that, he spent the majority of his career in print journalism, working for various newspapers in the mid-Atlantic region.

Segraves' exclusives range from small community stories, such as corner markets selling crack pipes, a story that led to a city-wide clamp down on such sales, to a state-wide story that led to the closing of a private gun club in Maryland.

In the gun club story, Segraves uncovered that the gun club's discharged ammunition in a nearby creek was causing dangerously high lead levels. After reporting this story, the state of Maryland opened its own investigation, an environmental group filed a lawsuit under the Clean Water Act, and the club voluntarily closed the shooting range. Many of his stories have led to similar results.

A D.C. native, Segraves lives with his wife and their two sons on Capitol Hill. He is an accomplished long distance runner and avid camper and skier (no snowboards for him). He has the singular distinction of winning the "Spookiest House on Capitol Hill" contest three years in a row, netting thousands of dollars for his sons' schools.

When he's not sending out Freedom of Information Act requests he spends his time trying to convince his family to listen to the Grateful Dead or at least watch a black & white movie. One thing that he and his wife agree on is that the "only bowl fit for a 'Nole is the toilet bowl." GO TERPS!

Oh yeah, he doesn't like Duke much either. It's an ACC thing.

 

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