Former congressional staffer from Glen Burnie accused of stealing 240 government phones

A former congressional staffer from Glen Burnie has been indicted in federal court on allegations that he stole and sold 240 government cellphones.

Christopher Southerland, 43, is charged with one count of theft of government property. He was indicted in October, and his charging document was unsealed Thursday.

His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

Southerland worked as a system administrator for the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure from 2020 to 2023, the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington said in a news release Monday. In that capacity, Southerland had the authority to order cellphones.

From January to March 2023, he ordered 240 cellphones to his home in Glen Burnie, prosecutors said. He allegedly sold at least 200 of those devices at a nearby pawn shop.

The U.S. attorney’s office said there were only 80 employees of the committee during the time Southerland ordered more than 200 phones.

To avoid “the House’s mobile device management software, which enables the House to remotely secure and monitor its phones,” Southerland told the pawn shop to sell the phones in parts, prosecutors said.

Investigators first learned of Southerland’s alleged scheme when one of the phones he pawned was sold whole on eBay.

“When the purchaser first booted up the phone, the phone displayed a phone number for the House of Representatives Technology Service Desk,” the U.S. attorney’s office said. “The purchaser called that number, and House employees soon discovered that several phones purchased by Southerland were unaccounted for.”