INDIANAPOLIS — A Whiteland man and former federal investigator has been sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay $69,846.44 after pleading guilty to making false statements while he was a government employee.
According to court documents, Christopher B. Laughlin, 37, began working at the United States Office of Personal Management as a federal background investigator in May 2018. On Sept. 30, 2019, Laughlin was transferred to the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA).
Court documents say that on Aug. 2, 2021, a person told the DCSA that Laughlin never interviewed them. After a DCSA investigation, three additional people said Laughlin had never interviewed them despite what Laughlin had claimed on his reports.
An investigation by the DCSA's Office of the Inspector General determined that between Feb. 18 and Sept. 1, 2021, Laughlin submitted at least 22 false reports containing fabricated statements from at least 43 interviews that never actually happened.
DCSA says it spent over $69,000 to conduct the investigation into Laughlin.
“The safety and security of our country depends on the trustworthiness and integrity of federal employees and contractors,” said Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “This defendant’s decision to falsify reports and fabricate statements compromised the integrity of these important investigations, and increased the risk that unsuitable individuals are put in positions that could compromise our government and our national security."