A former Department of Defense contractor who pleaded guilty to submitting false background investigation reports was sentenced Monday to four months of home detention and ordered to pay $240,306 in restitution.
Nousheen Qureshi, 60, pleaded guilty Aug. 11.
“I fully accept responsibility for my actions,” Qureshi told U.S. District Judge David Carter. “I regret my mistakes deeply.”
Her voice at times trembling, Qureshi told Carter how she emigrated from Pakistan to marry in the United States and that one of her proudest accomplishments was becoming a U.S. citizen.
Qureshi said her husband “abandoned” her and two teenage daughters when they separated and that she found herself “homeless” until she was able to rent a room and dig herself out of a financial hole over the next three years.
Qureshi said pressure from her job and the “emotional strain” during the COVID-19 pandemic led to her failure at her job.
“I struggled to cope,” she said. “I understand this does not excuse my conduct.”
Qureshi said she has “struggled to find stable work” since she was charged in the case.
“I am committed to rebuilding my life with integrity and to make my daughters proud,” she said.
Qureshi faced between four and 10 months of home detention or home confinement, which is more restrictive. Prosecutors agreed with probation officials in recommending four months of home detention.
Qureshi’s attorney, Tucker Atkins of the Federal Public Defender’s Office, said his client moved quickly to plead guilty when she was sent a “target letter” notifying her of an investigation.
“She has been very tormented by her mistake,” Atkins said. “She has tried to do whatever she could do in her power to make things right.”
Carter ordered her to be on probation for three years, but he said if she did not run afoul of conditions there was a good chance he would shorten it.
“I want to see how you’re doing because I’m concerned that three years of probation is way too long,” Carter said. “If you’re doing well in a year or a year and a half … there’s a good chance we could shorten the probationary period.”
Qureshi was ordered to pay $700 of the restitution and then make payments in $50 installments.
She worked as a contractor for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency in Mission Viejo from June 2018 through August 2021, according to her plea agreement.
In June 2021, one of the job candidates she interviewed said he reported his drug usage, but it was left out of her report on his background, prosecutors said in her plea agreement.
That prompted her supervisors to sample five of her background investigations and concluded that six people she did reports on had never been interviewed, prosecutors said.
Qureshi was terminated in August 2021.
A survey of her work from July 2020 through August 2021 cost $240,306.04, prosecutors said. Investigators found she had filed 39 false reports, according to prosecutors.
Despite her termination, Qureshi went on to work for Omniplex World Services and ADC Ltd. From Late October 2021 through February 2024, she conducted 608 investigations for several agencies, prosecutors said.