Hello, so about 3 years ago my apartment was raided by the fbi for identity theft (I was 19 at the time). I lived with my mom and brother and we have not heard anything from them since. No one was questioned (wtf? weird right), no one was arrested, and no one even knows why they came in the first place honestly, they just took a whole bunch of stuff without explaining much and they told us to leave so they can search the apartment and come back in a few hours. I for one had nothing to do with it but I know it still looks bad because I lived in the apartment. Should I tell an investigator this? I want to be honest but I don’t want this ruining my chances of getting a clearance since I was never arrested charged, or questioned. What do you guys think I should do? Any advice would be a great deal of help, thank you!
The best advice for this whole process is to be as clear, complete, and honest as possible.
I don’t think the investigator would bring this up, but if they do, you should be as honest as possible. I can’t see any place on the SF-86 or SF-85p that would ask you about this, but if you see it, you should include it. It seems to have been a pretty minor incident, but it could become a huge issue and easy grounds for denial if it seems like you are concealing it.
The investigator will most likely ask you about law enforcement issues at any of your residences. This is when you can explain the incident.
Unusual occurrence to say the least. Many unanswered questions on my part but LAC,s may show the activity at the residence. Be honest or it may cause issues
I agree with @danorou that this does not really fit into any of the questions. But be sure to have all the details, date, location, any info about the people who executed the warrant, in case the investigator asks about it.
This seems rather odd, they’d have to get a warrant from a judge (wouldn’t they?) and they’d have to show the judge some kind of probable cause… and yet no charges were filed.
They would need a warrant to conduct a search with very limited exceptions, and it would be based on probable cause. However, prosecutors rarely bring charges unless they feel that they can convince beyond a reasonable doubt, which is a much higher standard.
It may have been that the police simply didn’t find the items that they believed were contained in the apartment.
Usually charges come after search warrants once police find the evidence they’re looking for, which in my case did not happen. I looked through the forms and it doesn’t ask anything about law enforcement involvement through residency. Also spoke to some former cops and they said a search warrant doesn’t get inserted through the database like arrests do and also said I shouldn’t mention it which is why I’m so confused about this. I want to be honest but if I can’t get a clearance because of this then I really don’t know what I’d do :\
Here’s how I would handle this: follow the SF-86 very closely. I don’t think you will see a place to mention this occurrence. Bring it up with your FSO just for full transparency, but they will likely say the same thing.
Follow the advice of @sbusquirrel advice and have the information available if you are contacted about it. It really shouldn’t be grounds for a clearance denial since it didn’t have anything to do with you (by your account), and even if it did, it could be mitigated.
He will surely be asked about. I did two interviews with two different agency. Both places asked if the police ever showed to my residency.
You can also obtain a copy of the warrant and affidavit which has to be filed with the court, unless it was sealed. If it was sealed getting a copy will be more work. Do what you can to obtain it in case it becomes an issue, which seems likely to me, but that’s just my humble opinion. As a decades long detective as I said, many unanswered questions for my money…good luck
Investigator with 15 years experience here. If you get interviewed, the investigator or agent WILL ask you about police activity at your residences. Since you say it had nothing to do with you, a law check shouldn’t come up so it shouldn’t be an issue. During the interview, just tell them what you told here in your original post. No issue since it had nothing to do with you. It becomes an issue if you don’t disclose it during the interview and someone gets interviewed during your investigation and they tell the investigator that you did have law enforcement at your residence.
Thanks for the reply! So in your experience, have you ever dealt with someone in my situation? Even though I had nothing to do with this, it still looks bad you know? I’m afraid that even if I tell them about what happened, it won’t be in my favor.
Should you disclose? you should.
However, I can understand the non-disclosure. I don’t think it will look as bad as it is made out to be because this type of questions was not asked on the form. However, failure to answer this question might raise a “flag” as it would be deemed that the information could be used to blackmail or coerce you.
If you are truly concerned, I would advise you to consult a security clearance attorney. Honestly, I don’t see the harm in the disclosure, but then again… I am not you.
Honestly I don’t have a problem disclosing it but for some reason I keep thinking something is going to happen if I do. And then I’m just going to think about what would happen if i didn’t disclose it. Many have said that it won’t effect me because i didn’t commit a crime but let’s be real… the FBI had a search warrant for my apartment. I don’t know how often that happens but it still doesn’t look good. Idk I’m confused but I will take your advice and talk to a SC lawyer for sure. Thanks!