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Press Release

Indiana Man Sentenced For Training Federal Job Applicants To Lie During Polygraph Examinations

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Virginia

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Chad Dixon, 34, of Marion, Indiana, was sentenced today to eight months in prison followed by a three year term of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $17,091.07 for his role in a scheme to deceive the federal government during polygraph examinations conducted as part of federal security background investigations.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Mythili Raman, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division made the announcement following the sentencing.  Dixon previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud and obstruction of an agency proceeding on December 17, 2012. 

According to court documents, Dixon operated an Internet-based business that trained customers how to “beat” polygraph examinations conducted by various agencies of the federal government, including within the intelligence community.  Dixon taught physical and mental polygraph countermeasures designed to obstruct polygraph examinations by producing “truthful” polygraph charts ”even if you are flat out lying.”  Dixon customized his trainings by asking each customer the purpose of their polygraph examination and the information they wanted to conceal from the government.  Dixon instructed his customers to conceal their misconduct, to deny receiving polygraph countermeasures training, and to lie during their exams.  The purpose of the scheme was for Dixon to enrich himself by training federal job applicants and federal employees how to conceal specific and material information from the federal government in exchange for between approximately $1,000 and $2,000 plus travel expenses.

Dixon provided private training sessions around the country to his customers, including applicants for federal law enforcement and national security positions.  For example, Dixon trained two federal contractors – associated with a U.S. intelligence agency and a federal law enforcement agency – who held Top Secret security clearances.  In addition, Dixon trained Applicant A, who applied for a United States Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) Air Interdiction Agent position, and Applicant B, who applied for a CBP Border Patrol Agent position, to utilize polygraph countermeasures.  He instructed both applicants to lie about his training. 

Furthermore, on two separate occasions, Dixon trained undercover agents posing as applicants for CBP law enforcement positions to lie in order to beat polygraph tests.  The first undercover agent told Dixon that, while previously employed as a local jailer, she smuggled contraband into the jail for inmates and accepted bribes.  She also told Dixon that she was an active drug-user and that she had lied about all of her misconduct on her security background forms.  Dixon instructed the agent to lie about her past criminal activities and taught her how to obstruct the polygraph exam.  The second undercover agent told Dixon that, in order to pass a pre-employment polygraph test for a federal law enforcement position, he had to conceal that he had sex with a minor and to hide information concerning a brother who was a member of the Los Zetas drug cartel involved in cross-border crimes involving drugs, extortion, murder, and kidnapping.  The agent told Dixon that he gave his brother his U.S. passport so his brother could illegally enter the United States for criminal purposes.  Nevertheless, Dixon trained the second undercover agent and told him not to reveal the information about his brother or the sexual contact with a minor.

Dixon also admitted to providing training to nine convicted sex offenders who were required to take polygraph examinations as a condition of court-ordered probation or parole, including:

  • A 35-year-old man from Herndon, VA, convicted of peeping;
  • A 52-year-old man residing in Bethesda, MD, convicted of sexual abuse of a minor;
  • A 53-year-old man residing in Quincy, IL, convicted of a child pornography-related offence;
  • A 46-year-old man from Aurora, TX, convicted of sexual assault of a minor;
  • A 55-year-old man in New York, NY, convicted of sexual assault of a minor;
  • A 42-year-old man from Seminole, TX, convicted of attempted sexual battery of a minor;
  • A 39-year-old man from Carrolton, TX, convicted of indecent sexual contact with a child;
  • A 39-year-old man in Raleigh, NC, convicted of sexual battery; and
  • A 30-year-old man in Commerce City, CO, who failed to properly register as a sex offender.

This case is being investigated by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Internal Affairs, the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Defense Criminal Investigative Service.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Uzo Asonye and Criminal Division Public Integrity Section Trial Attorneys Anthony J. Phillips and Eric L. Gibson. 

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.
Updated March 18, 2015