South Bay Man Agrees to Plead Guilty to Lying About Membership in White Supremacist Groups to Obtain Employment, Security Clearance

          LOS ANGELES – A former member of two white supremacist organizations has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge that he failed to disclose his past membership in two hate groups in order to obtain a security clearance and employment at a defense contractor.

          Decker Hayes Ramsay, 23, of Rolling Hills, agreed to plead guilty to a single-count information charging him with making false statements. Ramsay’s plea agreement was filed today in United States District Court.

          According to his plea agreement, in April 2018, Ramsay knowingly and willfully made a materially false statement on an Electronic Questionnaire for Investigations Processing (e-QIP), which is used by the United States Office of Personnel Management’s National Background Investigations Bureau as part of its background investigation of prospective federal employees and contractors. Ramsay submitted an e-QIP as part of his application for employment at a defense contractor, named in court documents as Company 1, a job that required him to obtain a national security clearance.

          As part of the background investigation, applicants for security clearances were required to certify that “I understand that a knowing and willful false statement on this form can be punished by fine or imprisonment or both,” the plea agreement states.

          Ramsay admitted that he falsely represented on his e-QIP that he had never been a member of an organization that advocates or practices commission of acts of force or violence to discourage others from exercising their constitutional rights.

          In reality, Ramsay previously belonged to Vanguard America, a white supremacist group that opposes multiculturalism and believes that the United States should be an exclusively white nation. He also belonged to Aryan Underground, a white supremacist group established in 2017 that upheld Nazi ideology.

          Ramsay admitted that he lied on the form in order to obtain employment at Company 1. His false statement was material because, as a result of it, Ramsay obtained a security clearance that he might have otherwise not received had he been truthful about his white supremacist ties.

          Ramsay is expected to make his initial court appearance in the coming weeks. Upon entering his guilty plea, he will face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.

          The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force investigated this matter.

          This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Reema M. El-Amamy of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section.