Former Background Investigator For Federal Government Pleads Guilty To Making A False Statement

            WASHINGTON – Gina M. Adams, 46, a former background investigator for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), pled guilty today to a charge stemming from her falsification of work on background investigations of federal employees and contractors, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and Patrick E. McFarland, Inspector General for the Office of Personnel Management.

           Adams, of Glen Burnie, Md., pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to making a false statement. The Honorable Colleen Kollar-Kotelly scheduled sentencing for Dec. 18, 2014. The charge carries a statutory penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. As part of the plea, Adams has agreed to pay $10,000 in restitution to the federal government.

            According to a statement of offense submitted to the Court, Adams was employed as a Special Agent of OPM’s Federal Investigative Services.

            From at least the summer of 2013 through April 2014, in at least 10 Reports of Investigations on background investigations, Adams represented that she had interviewed a source or reviewed a record­ regarding the subject of the background investigation. In fact, she had not conducted the interviews or obtained the records of interest. These reports were utilized and relied upon by the agencies requesting the background investigations to determine whether the subjects were suitable for positions having access to classified information, for positions impacting national security, for positions of public trust, or for receiving or retaining security clearances.

            Adams’s false representations have required Federal Investigative Services to reopen and rework numerous background investigations that were assigned to her during the time period of her falsifications, at an estimated cost of at least $10,000 to the U.S. government.

            Federal Investigative Services has a robust integrity assurance program which utilizes a variety of methods to ensure the accuracy of reported information.  The falsification of investigative case work by the defendant was detected through the program.

            This is one of numerous cases prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia since 2008 involving false representations by background investigators and record checkers working on federal background investigations. In addition to Adams, 19 other background investigators and two record checkers have been convicted of charges.

            Federal Investigative Services, through its workforce of approximately 7,600, including 6,100 field investigators, is responsible for conducting background investigations for numerous federal agencies and their contractors, on individuals either employed by or seeking employment with those agencies or contractors. Federal Investigative Services conducted more than 2.3 million investigations during the 2013 fiscal year. More than 700,000 of these investigations involved applicants for access or continued access to classified information.

            In performing background investigations, the investigators conduct interviews of individuals who have information about the person who is the subject of the review. In addition, the investigators seek out, obtain, and review documentary evidence, such as employment records, to verify and corroborate information provided by either the subject of the background investigation or by persons interviewed during the investigation.  After conducting interviews and obtaining documentary evidence, the investigators prepare a Report of Investigation containing the results of the interviews and document reviews, and electronically submit the material to OPM in Washington, D.C. OPM then provides a copy of the investigative file to the requesting agency, which can use the information to determine an individual’s eligibility for employment or a security clearance.

            In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Machen and Inspector General McFarland praised the efforts of Assistant Special Agent in Charge Nathaniel Smith, OPM, Office of the Inspector General, and Philip Kroop, David Newcomer, and Jeffrey Addicks, OPM, Federal Investigative Services. They also acknowledged the work of Paralegal Specialist Donna Galindo of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Chubin Epstein, who investigated and prosecuted this matter.