Three former Department of Homeland Security employees, including a former supervisor, have been found guilty of conspiring to steal the personal data of hundreds of thousands of government employees from law enforcement databases.
Former Acting Inspector General Charles Edwards was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in January 2022 to theft of government property and conspiracy to defraud the United States and commit theft of government property.
Two DHS IT employees, Murali Venkata and Sonal Patel, each received four months in prison and two years’ probation.
Mr. Patel had pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy in April 2019, while Mr. Venkata was convicted by a federal jury in April 2022 of theft, wire fraud, criminal damage to property, and conspiracy.
Prosecutors say the three were involved in the acquisition of government software and employee information by Edwards’ company, Maryland-based Delta Business Solutions, for the purpose of creating a commercial case management software system that would be sold back to the federal government. They claim they hatched a plan to steal information from the database.
More than 200,000 employees whose information was stolen worked for the Department of Homeland Security or the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General, where all three co-conspirators previously worked.
Upon learning of the investigation, Venkata deleted “incriminating text messages and other communications” in an attempt to thwart authorities, prosecutors said.
Mr. Edwards, 63, resigned from his post as acting chief in late 2013 after a Senate investigation concluded that he was too familiar with the officials he was supposed to oversee.
Edwards also employed his wife as an auditor in his firm and used taxpayers’ dime to make numerous trips from Washington, D.C., to Miami and Fort Lauderdale, where he taught computer and computer science at Nova Southeastern University. He had been accused of flouting nepotism rules by pursuing a degree in information science. In 2011 and 2012.
The monitor was also accused by lawmakers of giving bonuses to employees who helped them complete school assignments or writing papers, and retaliating when employees complained about his conduct. . Mr Edwards denied any wrongdoing at the time.
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
