Grand Jury Indicts Former DOD Contractor For Filing False Claims

Prosecutors say she was overpaid more than $100,000.

 

Baltimore, Md (KM) A federal grand jury indicted a Gaithersburg woman for submitting false claims for working hours on a government contract when no work was done. The US Attorney’s Office for Maryland says Melissa Heyer, 44, is charged with five-counts of making a false claim.

Prosecutors only identified the companies involved as Company A which was a subcontractor of Company B. Both performed national security work for the Department of Defense.

Heyer worked forĀ  Company A from January 2017 to March, 2019, but was assigned to the DOD and worked on national security matters for the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Md. She held a top-secret sensitive clearance, and had access to a sensitive compartmentalized information facility (SCIF) at the NSA.

The indictment alleges Heyer submitted false claims that she was working at one of NSA’s SCIF’s when she was somewhere else. The claims totaled more than $100,000.

If convicted, Heyer could be facing five years in prison for each of the false claims. But the US Attorney’s Office says the actual sentences are typically less than the maximum penalties.

Federal officials say indictments are not a finding of guilt, and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at later criminal proceedings.

 

 

By Kevin McManus