A former Department of Defense contractor accused of submitting false background investigation reports appeared in federal court in Santa Ana Monday as she prepares to plead guilty.
Nousheen Qureshi formally pleaded not guilty during her arraignment Monday, but then agreed to a plea deal.
U.S. District Judge John Early ordered her released on her own recognizance and scheduled a status conference date of July 14.
Qureshi 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.
After she was fired, investigators “reviewed and investigated prior (Department of Defense) background investigations conducted by defendant and determined there were 39 false reports,” according to her plea agreement.