False Records Brought Up During Interview

Hello, I recently completed my second interview for Public Trust clearance and they brought up charges that are not sobering I did. I stated that I have no clue what these charges are. I had previous charges that we discussed in length during first and second interview. My question is how do I assure that they know these charges I have no clue about are not me. It was almost like someone stole my identity as they were super silly charges (disorderly conduct and some possession charges). I’ve only ever had serious charges 10 years ago and have never had silly charges like this ever. I thought for sure the serious charges will get my clearance axed but hey I’m just a guy trying to pay my bills and I’ve ‘reformed’ years ago so if they pull the clearance it’s whatever. I just don’t want them accusing me of this silly nonsense that I never did. I’m fine admitting to very serious charges and have done so and of course they found those serious charges anyways. How can I defend myself against these random silly charges? The investigator told me to go get my records from police/courts but I only care about not losing my clearance. For reference I got favorable adjudication from FBI and have been working the job requiring clearance for over a month now. Thanks in advance!

Go get the records from the courts and police like your investigator said. If they do try to take action against you, you will need them. Based on the information you provided, either one of two things happened:
(1) Someone stole your identity or gave your name when they got arrested (friend, brother, cousin?)
(2) You were arrested but didn’t know it. At least in my state, you can be arrested without ever getting handcuffed, fingerprinted, etc. It is called an appearance ticket. Did you ever get stopped by the police where they say the charges are from?

I’m also a bit confused by the overall scenario in your post. If you were already adjudicated by the FBI and working, why are you still getting interviewed? Are you working on an interim, or is this for a new position?

Did the investigator say “your record says” or did they say “during the course of the investigation I received information stating you received a charge of …”? There is a big difference. In the second scenario the information could have came from anywhere, a record, a source, a rumor, it does not mean it actually happened and you are just being asked to respond to the information. If it’s not true just say so.

I believe it’s interim clearance and I had been arrested in that area in the past for stuff already brought up in first interview, I’ll definitely get the records and appreciate the advice! The dates they provided were right around when I got my wallet stolen and she stated that there was no outcome for one of the false charges. If it is a case of identity theft then I guess i’ll just let it run its course. I really love the job but am thinking they may just let me go as every interview thus far has been all about past legal stuff and nothing good. No talking about past jobs or anything, just going over my past criminal stuff which I’ve tried so very hard to move away from for years and years. Thanks again for your advice and I appreciate this blog!

It’s an interim clearance to the best of my knowledge. Definitely was stopped by police in the area but 7 years prior to when they stated false charges occurred. Wallet was stolen around the time of these false charges is all I can think of as far as someone using my identity although I’m not too keen on identity theft scenarios. Honestly I think they’ll yank the clearance (interim?) and boot me out but who knows. I got a few mortgage payments out of it anyways. Thank you for your reply and I apologize if I double replied as I thought I had replied last night. I’ll definitely get the records for myself as well and try to clear my name of false charges so long as it’s not expensive.

Without going in too much detail, you mentioned the FBI, you work for them or a contractor or DOJ contractor with all past issues you indicated youve been working for a month. This sounds like developed information. If by chance this was ID theft, did you ever file a report if your wallet was stolen? That would be a good basis for clearing up the timeline of these adverse events. Good luck

No I didn’t file a police report on missing wallet unfortunately. I’m a contractor for DOI and the FBI favorable adjudication was the thing that got me the interim clearance (I believe). Once I got favorable adjudication from FBI they gave me a start date but the clearance was/is still in pending status. Thank you for your reply and I’ll try and keep my hopes up. I wish they’d ask me about other things aside from my past criminal stuff as I’m a really good worker and my metrics are up there with the top people here where I’m at but I guess that is irrelevant with these investigation processes. Is it normal for them to only focus on past criminal stuff? I thought maybe they’d hound me about previous employers, neighbors, work ethic, etc.? So far both interviews are just criminal history 10+ years back. Nothing about anything else and now false charges. Seems like they’re just focusing on that which is fine I guess, wish they’d look at the whole person like they say though and not just the court stuff.

They do adjudicate off the “whole person concept” The reason they are probably focusing on the criminal matter is thats all thats probably derogatory information. They may ask about your previous residences, jobs, etc but if there is nothing adverse, its basically verifying it unless something comes up. Dept of Interior contractor? and an FBI adjudication…If you can prove your wallet was stolen on/or about the date the criminal matters began, that will be to your benefit. You may want to let your FSO know of this situation and self report it to kind of get in front of it even though its now currently being investigated. Let us know how things turn out

I’ll definitely post updates as they come along. Is the FSO my government approver? I definitely want to keep the job and that’s reassuring to know that this means they may have nothing notable coming from the other parts of the investigation (people references, jobs, etc.) I’m a contractor for Department Of Interior/Bureau of Indian Affairs. Thank you for the reply and I’ll keep everyone posted for sure!

Just curious, why would FBI adjudicate anything relating to a totally different government branch? Did they adjudicate your public trust/clearance for a previous job, or are you talking about some other type of “adjudication” like a fingerprint check coming up clean or criminal history check?

I found this confusing as well. They (the FBI) gave me ‘favorable adjudication’ which in turn allowed me to get an interim clearance and start working. I had to wait for them (the FBI) to give this favorable adjudication before getting a start date or being allowed on site. I’ve never held a clearance job and come from purely private sector. They never gave much explanation aside from I couldn’t do anything until that favorable adjudication from FBI happened and I never asked any questions afterwards. I found it odd though as all of the investigators are Department of Defense personnel and my coworkers stated that not only did the FBI do their ‘favorable adjudication’ but the FBI also did the investigation on them (if any were done at all)…I assume I’m just special but most likely it’s due to my record calling for some DoD level stuff but I have no clue.

I’m assuming the “favorable adjudication” was for something like a fingerprint or basic criminal records check by name as opposed to actually being an adjudication on the public trust. Interim comes before adjudication not after

Gotcha, it’s looking more and more like they’ll end up letting me go honestly. I could be wrong but I have a good feeling (not good in the sense I’ll lose my job) that it’ll be over soon. Thank you for the information and I’ll let everyone know the outcome in hopes that it helps the next person in some way. The moral of the story is if you’re a felon I would just not bother with trying the clearance stuff, they don’t want it. Nothing new there though as I get denied all kinds of stuff due to it. After 7 years it does go away for normal background stuff so never give up any felons reading this!! Most of this reply is for future people who may come across this and not aimed at you abc123. Thank you for the reply and hope all is well!

If the felony was an issue, the FBI would have seen it and reported it to them during their adjudication. If for some reason it is now an issue where it wasn’t before, they would revoke the interim off of that. They would have no need to make up fake records about a more minor violation to do that.

Hello everyone! I wanted to give a conclusion to this thread as you all have been very helpful and I hope it helps people in the future. I think everything is totally fine as for my background/clearance going through. I never received the gold star sticker or unlocked any other indicators that it is complete but I also stopped looking into it or caring. I’ve decided government work isn’t for me. I can’t speak for all government work but this one isn’t for me. I’m a people person whom strives for very high levels of customer satisfaction. Government is not conducive to high caliber customer service just by its own nature. There is no shareholders or investors to please. No need for change or urgency and some of the most apathetic people I’ve ever encountered. It’s too bad and ironic (and sad). Anyways thank you all and take care! My final words on all of it do like Nike and Just Do It! Don’t let felonies stand in your way ever! There’s most likely really good clearance jobs out there just absolutely not the one I landed. Maybe military branch clearance jobs would be the route i’d go if I were to do it again. Take care all!