WASHINGTON - Ronald G. Payton, a 24-year-old former investigator at U.S. Investigations Services, Inc. (“USIS”), who conducted background investigations on behalf of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (“OPM”), was sentenced today to 180 days of home detention as part of a one-year period of supervised probation for making a false statement, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today.

Payton, of Waldorf, Maryland, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, after pleading guilty in June 2008. The Court also ordered Payton to pay a total of $10,000 in restitution to OPM.

According to the factual proffer agreed to by Payton at the time of the plea, Payton was employed by USIS as an investigator under contract to conduct background investigations on behalf of OPM. OPM’s Federal Investigative Services Division (“FISD”), formerly known as the Center for Federal Investigative Services, is responsible for conducting background investigations for numerous federal agencies and their contractors. OPM-FISD has an investigator workforce comprised of federal agents employed by OPM-FISD and investigators employed by various companies, such as USIS, under contract with OPM-FISD to conduct background investigations. OPM-FISD conducts background investigations of individuals who are either employed by or seeking employment with federal agencies or government contractors. The purpose of the background investigations is to determine individuals’ suitability for positions having access to classified information, for positions impacting national security, and for receiving or retaining security clearances.

In conducting these background investigations, contract investigators conduct interviews of individuals who have information about the person who is the subject of the background investigation. In addition, contract 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, contract investigators prepare a Report of Investigation (“ROI”), containing the results of the interviews and records reviews, and electronically submit the ROI to OPM in Washington, D.C. OPM then provides a copy of the investigative file to the requesting agency and maintains a copy in its records system.

The ROI containing the results of the interviews and records reviews conducted during a background investigation is utilized and relied upon by the agency requesting the background investigation to determine whether the subject of the investigation is suitable for a position having access to classified information, for a position impacting national security, or for receiving or retaining security clearance.

On or about February 14, 2008, in a ROI of a background investigation of B.D., Payton stated that he had interviewed four individuals, among others, about B.D. (and reported what these four individuals had purportedly stated about B.D.), when, in truth and in fact, Payton had not interviewed any of these four individuals about B.D. On the same date, Payton electronically submitted to OPM in Washington, D.C., his ROI on the background investigation of B.D., which contained the above-mentioned false statements. These false statements were material, as they influenced the government’s decisions and activities with respect to B.D. In or about April 2008, Payton began calling one of those four individuals whom he had not interviewed about B.D. and leaving lengthy voice-mail messages asking her to state falsely that she had been interviewed by him regarding B.D.

Between October 2007 and February 2008, in at least six ROI’s on background investigations, Payton stated that he had interviewed a source regarding the subject of the background investigation when, in truth and in fact, he had not conducted the interview. Beginning in or about July 2007, on at least five occasions, in his ROI’s on background investigations, Payton stated that he had reviewed records obtained by him when, in truth and in fact, Payton had not obtained those records. In his ROI’s on background investigations, Payton also fabricated answers to questions that he had forgotten to ask in interviews that he had actually conducted. All of these false statements were material, as they influenced the government’s decisions and activities with respect to the subjects of those background investigations.

Payton’s false statements in his ROI’s on background investigations have required OPM-FISD to reopen and rework numerous background investigations that were assigned to Payton during the time period of his falsifications, at an estimated cost of at least $10,000 to the United States government.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor praised the hard work of Special Agent Derek M. Holt, OPM, Office of the Inspector General, and Philip Kroop, Branch Chief, Integrity Assurance, OPM-FISD. Mr. Taylor also acknowledged the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ellen Chubin Epstein and Thomas E. Zeno, who investigated and prosecuted this matter.