HOUSTON -- Note: The following story is a verbatim transcript of an Investigators story that aired on Wednesday, June 18, 2008, on KPRC Local 2 at 10 p.m.

Local 2 Investigates told you Tuesday night that you're paying thousands for air marshals to sit in an office instead of a plane -- all because the federal officers are awaiting criminal DWI trials.

Tonight, we've uncovered more. It's not just alcohol-related crimes. What investigative reporter Amy Davis has uncovered has Congress questioning the character of the entire program.

It's not what happened in the sky that has federal air marshal Richard Castillo grounded and suspended from work. Investigators say what lead to his suspension happened right here in his northeast Harris County home. He's charged with indecency with a child. The child, we've learned, was his daughter's 14-year-old best friend. The teen says Castillo fondled her under a blanket at a sleepover at the air marshal's home.

Castillo wouldn't talk with us, but we know he told investigators he had been drinking that night. He denied touching the girl.

"As a father of five children, I have little tolerance for these types of allegations," said U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul when we told him about what we'd found. "If they turn out to be true, this should be handled in a very severe way."

Castillo has not been convicted; but his arrest is the latest in a string of federal air marshals working in the Houston field office.

In 2006 a judge sentenced air marshals Burlie Sholar and Shawn Ngyuen to federal prison for using their badges to smuggle cocaine and drug money through airports across the country. During a sting, Nguyen reportedly told a government informant, "I'm the man with the golden badge."

"These two men in no way reflect the true professionalism of the federal air marshals who fly day in and day out," special agent in charge of the Houston office Joanne Oxford told a crowd of reporters gathered outside the federal courthouse after the air marshals were sentenced in 2006.

In many cases, Oxford makes the final call who to discipline, who to fire and who to keep on after air marshals are charged with misdemeanor crimes.

Air marshal Deno Stamos is awaiting trial for his second DWI. In 1998, records show he drove away after hitting two cars on Richmond Avenue. When police caught him, his blood alcohol content was a .19 percent, more than twice the legal limit.

"They are the ones that are supposed to enforce the law, not violate the law," said U.S. Rep. Ted Poe. "And if they commit a crime or are charged with a crime, there is a consequence for that and it should be a tough consequence."

The consequence while Stamos awaits trial? Full pay while he performs "light duty." We're told he's mostly answering phones.

"I don't know how many phone calls the Air Marshal Service gets anyway, probably not a good use of taxpayer money," said Poe.

No one with the Air Marshals Service would sit down for an interview for this story. We've learned even when members of Congress like Michael McCaul started asking questions to the Department of Homeland Security, he got few answers.

"We made an initial inquiry and they were a little bit reluctant to provide that information," McCaul said. "Obviously, it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing to the department. They don't like the fact that we're digging into this. They don't like the fact that you're investigating this."

They probably won't like legislators' reactions either.

"I believe that we have a problem," said U.S. Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee, who chairs the Transportation Security & Infrastructure Protection Committee.

One former air marshal thinks one of the problems may be how quickly the government hired thousands of air marshals after Sept. 11, 2001.

"This agency is the melting pot for a variety of types of individuals," he told Local 2 Investigates. "They hired the best of the best. They hired former state, local and federal law enforcement officers. And they hired taxi cab drivers and everything in between."

"We ramped up so quick," said U.S. Rep. Gene Green. "We wanted to make sure we had a body on the plane that had some law enforcement background. And now we need to go back and look and say are we really having the best that we can have on those planes?"

We've learned both Congressmen Poe and McCaul have asked for special hearings on this issue. The Aviation subcommittee Poe is on will meet to talk about what we've uncovered in July.

We did hear from the Air Marshal Service after our investigation aired last night.

It now says it does have a policy on how to discipline air marshals charged and convicted of DWI. After reading the policy, it appears the TSA used an exception allowed in the policy to keep one air marshal on the payroll despite a second DWI.