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Press Release
Press Release
WASHINGTON - Kristen M. Jasper, 28, a former background investigator for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management OPM), was sentenced today to six months of home detention and ordered to pay $109,000 in restitution for falsifying 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.
Jasper, of Hayden Lake, Idaho, pled guilty in August 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a charge of making a false statement. The Honorable Beryl A. Howell sentenced her today, including the six months of home detention as part of three years of probation.
According to a statement of offense submitted to the Court at the time of the guilty plea, Jasper was a Special Agent assigned to the Federal Investigative Services, where her job was to conduct federal background investigations.
Between August 2010 and June 2011, in more than three dozen Reports of Investigation on background investigations, Jasper 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 interview or obtained the record. Her 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, or for receiving or retaining security clearances.
Jasper’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 $109,000 to the U.S. government. The restitution is to be paid to the federal 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 in the last four years involving false representations by background investigators and record checkers working on federal background investigations. In addition to Jasper, 13 other background investigators and two record checkers have been convicted of charges.
Federal Investigative Services, through its workforce of approximately 7,300 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 2.1 million investigations during the 2012 fiscal year. More than 770,000 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 sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen and Inspector General McFarland praised the efforts of Special Agent Nathaniel Smith, OPM, Office of the Inspector General, and Philip Kroop, Chief of Quality and Integrity Assurance, OPM-Federal Investigative Services. Mr. Machen and Mr. McFarland also acknowledged the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mary Chris Dobbie and Ellen Chubin Epstein, who investigated and prosecuted this matter.
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