Howard County activist sentenced to probation for stealing law firm’s immigration records

Longtime Howard County activist Jake Burdett, a law school graduate who recently passed the bar exam, was sentenced Thursday to five years of probation stemming from the theft of immigration files from a Pikesville law firm that fired him.

“I hope the next time I’m in a courtroom it is as an attorney and not a defendant,” the 27-year-old said moments before Baltimore County Circuit Judge Nancy Maggitti Purpura ordered him to pay $9,755 in restitution and barred him from contacting the law firm’s staff.

Burdett avoided jail time when the judge suspended his five-year sentence pending the successful completion of probation.

Baltimore County authorities charged Burdett in March 2025 with two felony counts of theft under $25,000 and a misdemeanor count of illegally accessing a computer, claiming he jeopardized immigration cases by deleting dozens of electronic forms and stealing physical files including passports.

During a victim impact statement, attorney Sharareh Hoidra tearfully told the court one of the clients is in “a risky situation and has completely disappeared.” Another client’s case concluded successfully but required countless hours of additional work.

Hoidra said Burdett couldn’t secure a job when she took a chance and hired him to work as a clerk.

“I tried to take care of this young man,” she said.

After she fired him for insubordination, Hoidra said, Burdett contacted clients to convince them to fire her and file a malpractice complaint against her.

She initially planned to let go of the dispute but said she changed her mind due to Burdett’s lack of remorse.

“I felt it was my professional and moral duty to bring these charges,” she said to the judge.

Burdett agreed in February to an Alford plea, in which he doesn’t admit guilt but acknowledges that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him of the misdemeanor charge. He told the judge Thursday he would treat the case against him as a “learning experience.”

Maggitti Purpura called the incident egregious and said vulnerable people had been harmed.

The judge ordered Burdett to submit to a psychiatric evaluation, in which he acknowledged he has “functional issues.” The court psychiatrist diagnosed Burdett with an anxiety disorder, for which his attorney William Bradley Bauhof said he’s receiving treatment.

In the meantime, Bauhof said, Burdett has not submitted his application to become a member of the Maryland State Bar and faces hurdles to being accepted even after the case concludes. He’s also struggled to secure employment, impacting his ability to pay restitution.

To incentivize payment, Maggitti Purpura told Burdett she would consider suspending the remainder of his probation if he makes the law firm whole before the end of the five-year period.

Burdett remains politically active in Columbia, where he lives. He ran unsuccessfully this spring for a seat on the Dorsey’s Search village board.

In 2023, Burdett was ejected from a news conference at which Howard County Executive Calvin Ball released a housing plan. That same year, Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins grabbed and pushed Burdett at a Capitol Hill event for House Republicans to discuss the World Health Organization.

Burdett pleaded guilty in 2019 to illegal wiretapping after he livestreamed a meeting at Congressman Andy Harris’s office during a Maryland Marijuana Justice rally.

Although the wiretapping charge has been expunged, Assistant State’s Attorney Adam Lippe cited the case as evidence Burdett should have known better.

“He’s just mean,” Lippe said. “He may be the smartest guy in the room, but he makes dumb decisions.”