House staffer charged with swiping and pawning hundreds of government cellphones

A former House committee staffer has been arrested on charges of stealing hundreds of government cellphones and selling them at a pawn shop.

According to the FBI and the U.S. Capitol Police, Christopher Southerland, 43, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, stole and then cashed in on the equipment.

From January 2023 to May 2023, he swiped approximately 240 government cellphones valued at more than $150,000 and sold them to a pawn shop near his home.

He was arrested Friday and charged in U.S. District Court, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced Monday.  

According to Ms. Pirro, Mr. Southerland used his position as a system administrator on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which allowed him to order cellphones for committee staffers, to carry out the scheme.

At the time, about 80 staffers were working on the committee.

Mr. Southerland ordered 240 phones and had them shipped directly to his Glen Burnie home before selling most of them to the pawn shop.

He told a pawn shop employee to sell the phones “in parts,” in order to bypass the House cellphone security and monitoring software, but his plan failed.

One of the phones was sold whole on eBay to an unsuspecting purchaser, who noticed the phone displayed a number for the House of Representatives Technology Service Desk.

The buyer called the number, leading House employees to eventually figure out their cellphone inventory came up short.

Mr. Southerland is no longer working for the committee.

In his LinkedIn profile, Mr. Southerland describes himself as seeking work and lists skills including project coordination, documentation and reporting. He also touts “excellent communication skills … a passion for customer service” and “strong problem-solving skills.”

He lists his start of employment in the U.S. House as September 2018 and according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he worked for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee from April 2020 until July 2023.