A Woodbridge man today admitted to lying about his educational background in his application for employment with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.
Federal officials said Mr. Gulshan Manko, 37, of Woodbridge, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by videoconference before Chief U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson to an information charging him with one count of making false statements to federal agents.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Manko submitted an application, referred to as an SF-86 Form, for employment as a federal agent with the DEA. Manko submitted fictitious academic transcripts from two higher education institutions located in New Jersey and represented that he had graduated from these two academic institutions. Manko made these statements in his employment application knowing that they were false in an attempt to gain employment with the DEA.
The count of providing false statements to which Manko pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 19, 2022.
Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Thomas Mahoney, and special agents of the DEA, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Susan A. Gibson in Newark, with the investigation leading today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Mateo of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Opioid Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Unit in Newark.