NASA LogoA NASA official who allegedly received $114,169 in overpayments for lodging while living on his boat moored at a Washington, D.C. marina pleaded guilty in federal court to making a false claim and was sentenced to confinement and three years of probation.

Peter Ouzts was sentenced by a California federal court last August to six months in a halfway house and six months home confinement with electronic monitoring. The court also ordered him to pay $110,503 in restitution and a $5,000 fine.

Details of the case – which had not been announced by the agency or covered by the media - were disclosed in the most recent report to Congress by the NASA Office of Inspector General.

Ouzts worked at the space agency's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and he was assigned to work in Washington from March 2004 to July 2008, according to court records.

On March 3, 2004, the records say, Ouzts bought a boat for $81,000 and lived on the vessel while it was docked at Glangplank Marina, which is on the Potomac River, within walking distance of the Washington Monument.

Ouzts did not notify NASA that he was living on the boat, and submitted fraudulent travel vouchers for lodging expenses, court records show. He received more than $200,000 in total lodging reimbursement, the records say.

In travel vouchers he submitted to NASA, Ouzts claimed he was paying $1,200 a month for “rental property” at Gangplank Marina.

After being audited by NASA, Ouzts submitted fraudulent receipts payable to someone identified in the court records as “PH,” a friend who was described as an executive assistant at the Office of the Under Secretary in the Department of Defense. PH also was identified as an unindicted co-conspirator.  

In July 2008, Ouzts was reassigned to NASA’s Ames Research Center in California.

It’s unclear why NASA didn’t relocate Ouzts to Washington instead of allowing him to claim lodging expense for four years.

NASA did not answer questions submitted by JunketSleuth, saying only that “The court record speaks for itself.”

More than a year ago, in January 2010, JunketSleuth filed requests with NASA under the federal Freedom of Information Act for travel data for all employees. The requests also sought copies of original travel receipts for top officials.

NASA subsequently provided copies of the receipts, but it has yet to provide data. However, a NASA official assured JunketSleuth that the data would be released soon.