Washington, D.C. – A Bowie, Maryland man, Joseph Muhidin Mustafa, 41, entered a plea of guilty on April 15, 2008, before U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary C. Collyer, to one count of Federal Employee Compensation Benefit Fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor, Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Inspector General Gordon S. Heddell.

According to the proffer of evidence presented to the Court, Joseph Muhidin Mustafa was hired as a temporary cable installer by the U.S. Senate in February 1989. On March 2, 1989, he fell approximately five feet from a ledge and twisted his knee. The fall exacerbated a prior injury to his left knee and resulted in a tear to his left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Over the next several years, Mustafa underwent five surgeries to repair his ACL.

On April 20, 1989, Mustafa applied to the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP), which is administered by the Department of Labor, for disability compensation based on his torn ACL. OWCP accepted his condition, and began paying him disability compensation. Mustafa received benefits from OWCP continuously until February 8, 2006.

OWCP continued to classify Mustafa as “temporarily totally disabled” until June 23, 2003, when he was cleared for light duty work by a physician. However, by 1995 Mustafa was well enough to begin racing cars at racetracks across the Mid-Atlantic region to supplement his unemployment compensation benefits. Mustafa did not report the fact that he was racing or the money he earned by doing so to OWCP.

Beginning in January 2004, Mustafa worked for Code 3 Security, a company that provides security services to companies in and around Bowie, Maryland. In total, Code 3 Security paid Mustafa over $40,000 before terminating him in June 2005. Thereafter, Mustafa created a company called “APS Security.” This company provides passive security services to businesses in the area surrounding Annapolis, Maryland. Records reveal APS Security paid Mustafa $29,087.39 in 2005, and $85,573 in 2006. Mustafa did not report these earnings to OWCP.

Based upon the money that the government now knows Mustafa earned, it has calculated that Mustafa was paid at least $32,311 in unemployment compensation benefits to which he was not entitled.

When he is sentenced on July 17, 2008, by U.S. District Judge Collyer, Mustafa will face a statutory sentence of up to five years of imprisonment and a possible fine of $250,000.

In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Taylor, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Persichini, and DOL Inspector General Heddell commended Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General Agent Tyre Lewis, FBI Special Agent Andrew Lenhart, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jocelyn Ballantine, Perham Gorji, and Diane Lucas, who handled the prosecution of the case.