An Arlington County man has pleaded guilty to swindling the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Department for more than $60,000 over a four-year period, federal court documents said.
Willie Brian Williams pleaded guilty Friday after a Veterans Affairs investigator learned late last year that Williams had been employed between April 2000 and October 2004 while still collecting $61,190 in unemployment benefits from the department, court documents said.
During those four years, Williams earned about $185,000 as an employee of Sterling, Va.-based ABBTECH Staffing Services, court records said. While employed by the temporary staffing firm, Williams worked as a “help desk manager” at Lockheed Martin Federal Systems in Springfield.
According to court records, Williams reportedly told investigators he intentionally did not report the income to Veterans Affairs in order to keep his unemployment benefits. In a June 2005 handwritten letter, Williams continued the ruse, telling Veterans Affairs officials he had “not worked in a very long time.” He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
