Another Investigator Found Guilty of Falsifying Reports
In another case involving a former contractor background investigator for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Department of Justice announced that former KeyPoint Government Solutions investigator Jason Razo pled guilty in the U.S. District Court in D.C. to making a false statement. This is the latest in a string of convictions involving 21 other background investigators who also falsified Reports of Investigations by ghost-reporting interviews that never occurred. Razzo, in a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, agreed to pay the federal government restitution in the amount of $85,779. Sentencing in this case has yet to occur, but if it follows precedent on previous convictions for the same offense, there is a 50-50 chance Razzo will get some jail time. OPM’s Office of the Inspector General investigators and U.S. District Court prosecutors have sought stiff sentencing from the judges in these cases to send a message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.
The real impact of this criminal conduct is more personal: OPM had to reopen the cases these investigators worked on in order to validate or have the fieldwork redone, which caused delays in some applicants getting cleared and probably cost some of them a job opportunity. The resources (investigators), time and funds required rework these cases, in turn, affected the timeliness of getting new cases closed. The consequences of their actions are immeasurable, and I would not be surprised if some applicant who may have been affected by the criminal behavior of one of these investigators decides to file a civil lawsuit against them for damages.
Comment Archive
That’s great and I’m glad they’re actively weeding them out. That being said, I wish they’d start enforcing title 18, section 1001. We’d have a lot more convicted felons in this country.
Agreed, I have personally been involved in helping get a few cases in front of U.S. Attorneys and prosecuted, however, it required the cooperation of the Agency OIG to run a federal criminal investigation and then sell it to the attorney at the U.S. District Court, mots of the time they are not going to bother wasting the time and resources on someone who lied on a federal form.
My issue mostly lies in the fact that not only are people not (ever) prosecuted but the vast, vast majority of them still end up with clearances. No repercussions.
Had an ESI today that involved falsification by the Subject and the recruiter. We all know there will be zero consequences for both parties
The only one who’ll face consequences will be you. You have to do extra paperwork and send messages and clean up all the bogus filler info on the SF86.
Shameful. No excuse for falsification. None.