Gerald R. Lueders, Unauthorized Computer Access, District of Columbia 2009

A former State Department employee, Gerald R. Lueders, pleaded guilty to unauthorized computer access, marking the third individual to do so in a continuing investigation.

Lueders, 65, of Woodbridge, Va., pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a one-count criminal information charging him with unauthorized computer access.

According to court documents, Lueders served as a Foreign Service Officer at the State Department from June 1974 through September 2001, and later worked as a watch officer within the Office of Consular Affairs from fall 2005 to February 2008. He has also been a retired annuitant since October 2001, serving as a recruitment coordinator in various State Department bureaus.

Lueders admitted to accessing the Passport Information Electronic Records System (PIERS) database and viewing the passport applications of more than 50 celebrities, actors, politicians, musicians, athletes, family members, members of the media, business professionals, colleagues, and other individuals identified in the press between July 2005 and February 2008. He claimed that his sole purpose in accessing and viewing these passport applications was idle curiosity.

Lueders is the third current or former State Department employee to plead guilty in this investigation. Lawrence C. Yontz, a former Foreign Service Officer and intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty to unlawfully accessing hundreds of confidential passport files on September 22, 2008, and was sentenced to 12 months of probation and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service on December 19, 2008. Dwayne F. Cross, a former administrative assistant and contract specialist, pleaded guilty to unlawfully accessing hundreds of confidential passport files on January 14, 2009.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Armando O. Bonilla of the Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section, headed by Section Chief William M. Welch II. The case is being investigated by the State Department Office of Inspector General.

Lueders' sentencing is scheduled for March 26, 2009.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/third-individual-pleads-guilty-illegally-accessing-confidential-passport-files