Federal Job Background Checks

SigmaSis03

SigmaSis03

Bluelighter
Joined
May 1, 2000
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Location
CA
Generally speaking, what sort of things are they looking for and what can disqualify one from being eligible for federal jobs?

Specifically, say there is a person who has been selected for a civil service job on an army base. Unsure yet as to the sensitivity of the position, ie. how deep the background check will go. One year ago this person plead no contest to the charge 'attempt to commit a misdemeanor.' A more in-depth inquiry will find the original complaint in which it is alleged that said person attempted to purchase cocaine but never actually completed the purchase due to interruption by police. A statement (essentially a confession to the intent to purchase) was signed.

Now, how should the person respond to the following question:

In the last 7 years, have you been involved in the illegal purchase, manufacture, trafficking, production, transfer, shipping, recieving, or sale of any narcotic, depressant, stimulant, hallucinogen, or cannibus, for your own intended profit or that of another?

I have my own opinion but it comes down to your definition of the word involved. You guys are the experts... what do you think?
 
It's difficult to know exactly if the "no contest" is equated with "yes" in your jurisdiction and in general. I'll try to check on it later. But it may suffice to know that "misleading the feds" is an actual statutory (statue-based) crime and if the person in your example proceeds to say "no" to the federal question and is then discovered, he/she will probably be convicted of the "misleading the feds" crime eventhough, honestly, he/she didn't know what the right answer is to the question as it is posed. It's crazy really, because this, to me anyway, seems like a trap for those who are unaware, yet it has been made a law after Yermian v. US, where actual knowlege of federal involvement and knowledge of right answers was deemed immaterial. :(
 
It is not the no contest plea that causes me to question the appropriate response. I believe no contest is as good (bad) as guilty for these purposes. Rather it is the fact that there was never an actual purchase. There might have been one a few minutes later given different cirumstances, but there wasn't and that's what makes me uncertain.
 
I believe that your attempted purchase would indeed qualify as being "involved". However, there is another important section to that question. The question specifically asks if it was for your profit or someone else's profit. Did your signed statement ever acknowledge an intent to sell? How much was the quantity of your attempted purchase? If you were only attempting to purchase a small quantity and you never admitted an intent to sell, then an honest answer to this question could still be a "no".
 
I never mentioned an intent to sell as my intent was never to sell. I assumed, however, that the someone else would apply to the guy I was buying it from and I'm sure he was attempting to make a profit, however small. I don't think I've come across a technicality that can get me off there.

But, how is intending to purchase being involved in a purchase? I mean, I know I'm obviously struggling for something to go my way but really, there was no actual purchase to be involved in. I didn't purchase anything. As a matter of fact I never even saw the product and my statement says so. I was found in a car with a guy. I was in possession of money, he was in possession of cocaine. When faced with the choice to sign a statement that I was trying to make a personal purchase or possibly facing charges of conspiracy (that I was conspiring to distribute), I chose the signed statement. So maybe I should've kept my damn mouth shut and not agreed with whatever they said and I could've gotten off completely but I wasn't ready to take that risk. Who knows what could've happened. I really hope a choice for convenience's sake doesn't come back to bite me in the ass.

Ugh, maybe I should call my lawyer and ask him.
 
Purchase begins with your offer to buy.

I can see what you mean by trying to say that an actual purchase never occurred. However, I believe that government will disagree (and probably logically justified so). In most criminal law proceeding (and in most criminal statues), for something to be illegal and be a crime, a "guilty mind" i(mens rea intent has to be formulated, making it a necessary element for most crimes. It's a good thing, because that often means that those who don't have guilty mind and don't know they are doing something illegal can get off (rightly so, because culpability is necessary for something to be a crime and those who do something negligently, or even recklessly, are not necessarily criminal). For you now, however, it means that the commission of a guilty act actus rea begins well before such act is successfully completed, nor is completion of that event/act is necessary. That is how they'll interpret word "purchase" and under such interpretation (which has been backed up by common law and all the judges follow that precedent).

And I guess, just a simple common sense would say that you begin your involvement in a purchase when you have an intent to purchase something and you make an offer to buy that something from a person who has the power to deliver on your offer. "Making an offer" doesn't even need to be done in words, it could be implied from your behavior like offering money or bidding on an item or something like that. So they definitely have you under the purchase definitely. That's a more reasonable view of "purchase" and I'm sure that actually having a criminal record/charge makes it a bit worse. I don't know what else we can do to get around this charge, it sucks. :( We'll have to think if there are any other arguments that will absolve you of having to answer YES to this question, but I still think that "legally" you'd have to say YES. And then if they investigate it, find out you lied, and try to charge you with "misleading the feds", then an attorney takes up the case, and finds other ways of defeating them (which would be tough tho).

Good luck. Good thread by the way, many interesting interpretations of the same basic words! :) -Edward
 
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