Former House IT assistant accused of stealing phones, allegedly sold to restaurant
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A former congressional IT aide is accused of abusing his trust to steal about 240 taxpayer-funded cellphones, worth more than $150,000, shipping them to his home in Maryland and selling them at a pawn shop, federal prosecutors said.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Monday that Christopher Southerland, 43, of Glen Burnie, Md., was arrested and charged in an unsealed U.S. District Court case, accusing him of stealing about 240 government-issued cellphones from the U.S. House of Representatives.
According to testimony reviewed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and her office, Southerland served from approximately April 2020 to July 2023 as the system administrator for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
In that role, Southerland was authorized to order mobile devices from committee staff, prosecutors said, giving him direct access to the internal system used to buy government-issued phones.
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Federal prosecutors say a former House IT aide abused trusted access to steal and sell 240 government cell phones, a scheme revealed after one device surfaced online. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
From January 2023 to May 2023, Southerland allegedly used that authority to order approximately 240 new cell phones and have them shipped directly to his home, despite the fact that the committee only had about 80 employees at the time.
Prosecutors said Southerland later sold more than 200 phones at a nearby pawn shop, turning government property into personal money.
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Federal prosecutors say a former House IT aide abused a position of trust to steal and sell 240 government cell phones at a pawn shop, a scheme that was exposed after one device surfaced online. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
As part of the alleged scheme, Southerland ordered a convenience store employee to sell the equipment “in parts,” investigators said, a move designed to bypass the House device management software, which allows officials to remotely monitor and secure government phones.
The scheme became apparent when one of the stolen phones was sold whole rather than disassembled, according to prosecutors.
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Federal prosecutors say a House IT aide’s alleged scheme to steal and sell 240 government cell phones was discovered when a buyer bought cell phones on eBay. (Stock)
That device was eventually listed on eBay and purchased by an unrelated buyer. When the consumer turned on the phone for the first time, the contact number for the House of Representatives Technology Service Desk appeared on the screen, the DOJ said.
The buyer called the number, prompting House officials to investigate and discover that many of the calls ordered under Southerland’s account were unaccounted for, prosecutors said.
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The case is being investigated by the US Capitol Police and the FBI. Prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jake Green for the District of Columbia, with assistance from other federal prosecutors.
