@Override
  public final UserAccount findUserAccountByUsername(final String username) {

    if (username == null) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException("The passed username was null.");
    }

    final Selector selector = connectionPool.createSelector();
    final List<Column> columns =
        selector.getColumnsFromRow(COLUMN_FAMILY_USERNAME, username, false, CONSISTENCY_LEVEL_READ);

    if (!columns.isEmpty()) {
      final String userid = Selector.getColumnStringValue(columns, "userid");
      return findUserAccountByPrimaryKey(userid);
    }

    return null;
  }