US gov’t: House sysadmin stole 200 phones, caught by House IT desk

The US House of Representatives, that glorious and efficient gathering of We the People, has been hit with yet another scandal.

Like most (non-sexual) House scandals, the allegations here involve personal enrichment. Unlike most (non-sexual) House scandals, though, this one involved hundreds of government cell phones being sold on eBay—and some rando member of We the People calling the US House IT help desk, which blew the lid on the whole scheme.

Only sell “in parts”

According to the government’s version of events, 43-year-old Christopher Southerland was working in 2023 as a sysadmin for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. In his role, Southerland had the authority to order cell phones for committee staffers, of which there are around 80.

But during the early months of 2023, Southerland is said to have ordered 240 brand-new phones—far more than even the total number of staffers—and to have shipped them all to his home address in Maryland.

The government claims that Southerland then sold over 200 of these cell phones to a local pawn shop, which was told to resell the devices only “in parts” as a way to get around the House’s mobile device management software, which could control the devices remotely.

It’s hard to find good help these days, though, even at pawn shops. At some point, at least one of the phones ended up, intact, on eBay, where it was sold to a member of the public.

This member of the public promptly booted the phone, which did not display the expected device operating system screen but instead “a phone number for the House of Representatives Technology Service Desk.” The phone buyer called this number, which alerted House IT staff that government phones were being sold on eBay.

According to the government, this sparked a broader investigation to figure out what was going on, which revealed that “several phones purchased by Southerland were unaccounted for.” The full scheme is said to have cost the government over $150,000.

Southerland was indicted back in early December 2025 but not arrested until January 8, 2026. He pled not guilty and was quickly released on personal recognizance but was told to “stay away from US Capitol grounds.” He has a court date scheduled for later this month.

A LinkedIn account for Southerland claims skills with Python, Linux administration, and Microsoft systems like Azure and Active Directory. It also says that he is good at “coordinating complex projects involving multiple stakeholders” and “the updating of infrastructure, such as virtual environments to ensure the smooth operation of processes.”

“I have a passion for customer service and can interact with team members in a professional and courteous manner,” he writes.

Hopefully, he has a good explanation for all the cell phones. If not, this could be yet another case of an engineer believing that they are more clever than they really are—while being brought down by something surprisingly low tech. Like trusting the pawn shop.