Federal authorities say a former Department of Defense employee has admitted lying about her contacts with a foreign government.
Beatrice C. Ruiz of Norwalk pleaded guilty in federal court in New Haven to one count of making a false statement.
Ruiz was a U.S. Department of Defense engineer at Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford. The 56-year-old denied having any contact with a foreign government on an application for a top secret security clearance.
But authorities say Ruiz since at least 1999 had maintained a social and business relationship with an official of the Colombian consulate in New York.
Ruiz and the government agreed that her social and business activities were intended for her personal benefit, and the evidence does not suggest that she misused classified information or harmed the security interests of the United States.
Ruiz faces up to five years in prison when she is sentenced on March 18.
