Triple-dipping federal worker doesn’t get jail time, used telework to claim three jobs at same time

A federal employee who claimed full-time pay from three agencies at the same time was spared jail time this week, with a judge ordering her to serve one year of probation.

Crissy Monique Baker must also try to repay the government $255,866.99, U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan ruled Tuesday.

Baker admitted to fraudulently claiming pay from three jobs and billing the government for working as many as 26 hours in a 24-hour day.

In her sentencing request to Judge Sooknanan, Baker said she never actually deprived the government of anything since she used her “exceptional time management, concentration and organizational skills” to finish every task she was assigned.

Still, she pleaded guilty to one count of making false claims. That allows for up to five years in prison.

Federal prosecutors had said she needed to serve at least one month behind bars, as well as three years of supervised release — essentially probation after a jail sentence — to send a signal to others.

“Although Baker confessed her conduct to the government, quickly pled guilty once she learned of the investigation, and appears genuinely remorseful, a period of imprisonment is warranted to deter others from engaging in similar conduct,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Will Hart and Kondi Kleinman said in their sentencing memo.

Baker took advantage of the federal government’s generous pandemic-era telework policies to hold down a full-time job with one federal agency while working as a contractor for two others.

She began working as a human resources contractor for AmeriCorps on Sept. 1, 2021, then started as a full-time analyst at the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Oct. 25 of that year. She was in a GS-13 position.

On May 16, 2022, she started working as a contractor for the National Institutes of Health, meaning she was listed as working all three jobs until the NIH job ended on Dec. 2, 2022. She continued contracting for AmeriCorps through April 30, 2023.

During June 2022, when she was triple-dipping, Baker reported 13 days in which she worked 26 hours — 10 hours at HUD and eight hours apiece for the NIH and AmeriCorps contracts.

She also reported five other days during which she worked 15 to 18 hours across a combination of the jobs.

There was also one 10-hour day and another 4-hour day that month.

It all unraveled when the Trump administration ordered federal employees back to in-person work.

Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican who has been critical of telework abuses, said Baker “got off easy for stealing more than $200,000 from the American people.”

“True justice would mean requiring her to work just one of the 26-hour days she claimed to be doing,” Ms. Ernst said.

She said return-to-work orders have boosted federal workers productivity and “ensured that federal employees spend their days serving the American people instead of scamming them.”

When investigators approached Baker earlier this year she admitted what she did — but defended her job performance.

“It is undisputed that Ms. Baker performed all tasks assigned to her in all three of her jobs, and was never reprimanded or cited for missing work or not completing any assignments tasked to her. In fact, she generally received ‘outstanding,’ or at least ‘fully successful’ performance ratings at her jobs,” defense attorney Bernard Crane told Judge Sooknanan.

Mr. Crane said probation was a good enough punishment since Baker was “entirely unlikely” to commit crimes in the future. She also is unlikely to ever secure a government or federal contracting job again.

The lawyer told the judge not to let “the poor choices … in this one situation color a life that has been replete with so many years of service to her country and otherwise free of virtually any blemish.”

He said Baker managed to make something of her life despite struggling in school, likely from then-undiagnosed autism spectrum, attention deficit hyperactivity and post-traumatic stress disorders. She joined the Army Reserve in 1999 and earned the rank of sergeant first class, and held a top secret clearance in the government — until her fraud was exposed.

“She is currently in training for a job with Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores, at which her projected salary will not be nearly enough to cover her monthly expenses. She has lost her career and her sense of self-respect due to what she has done,” the lawyer said.

Government prosecutors acknowledged Baker’s “complicated” circumstances but said the fraud lasted years and “countless billing cycles,” and she deserved to be made an example.