Washington, D.C. – A Bowie, Maryland man, Joseph Muhidin Mustafa, 41, was sentenced today to 10 months of confinement and ordered to pay $32,311 in restitution by U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary C. Collyer, pursuant to his April 15, 2008, plea of guilty to one count of Federal Employee Compensation Benefits Fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor.

Judge Collyer cited the importance of deterrence and the longstanding nature of Joseph Mustafa's fraud on the government when she sentenced him to a period of 6 months of incarceration, followed by 4 months of home confinement, and 3 years of supervised release, and ordered Mustafa to pay $32,311 in restitution. She also found that Mustafa had obstructed justice by attempting to thwart the government's investigation of his case.

As the Court stated, unemployment benefits are intended to provide necessary support to people injured on the job, not to become a way of life. However, for Joseph Mustafa, who was hired as a temporary cable installer by the U.S. Senate in February 1989, and who suffered a single tear to his left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) approximately one month later, his monthly benefits check paid his living expenses for more than almost 17 full years.

“Government benefits such as the disability program administered by the Department of Labor are funded by taxpayers who rightfully demand accountability and honesty on the part of the programs’ participants,” said U.S. Attorney Taylor. “This is a concept that – time and time again – the defendant failed to appreciate.”

From April 1989 until February 2006, Mustafa received $220,608 in disability compensation benefits from the Department of Labor's Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). However, by 1995 Mustafa was well enough to begin racing cars at racetracks across the Mid-Atlantic region to supplement his unemployment compensation benefits. Mustafa did not report the fact that he was racing or the money he earned by doing so to OWCP.

Beginning in January 2004, Mustafa worked for Code 3 Security, a company that provides security services to companies in and around Bowie, Maryland. In total, Code 3 Security paid Mustafa over $40,000 before terminating him in June 2005. Thereafter, Mustafa created a company called “APS Security.” This company provides security services to businesses in the area surrounding Annapolis, Maryland. Records reveal that APS Security paid Mustafa $29,087.39 in 2005, and $85,573 in 2006. Mustafa did not report these earnings to OWCP. During that approximately 25-month period, Mustafa was paid $32,311, which he should not have received.

In announcing today’s sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor commended Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General Agent Tyre Lewis, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Andrew Lenhart, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jocelyn Ballantine, Perham Gorji, and Diane Lucas, who handled the prosecution of the case.