WASHINGTON — Authorities have apprehended a former staff member of the U.S. House on charges of allegedly misappropriating almost 240 government cellphones, collectively worth $150,000, as announced by federal prosecutors on Monday.

Christopher Southerland, 43, previously served as an administrator with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, from April 2020 until July 2023. His role involved managing the procurement of cellphones for committee personnel, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro.

Prosecutors disclosed that between January and May 2023, Southerland exploited his administrative position to have 240 government cellphones dispatched directly to his home in Maryland. At that period, the committee comprised roughly 80 staff members.

Southerland allegedly proceeded to sell over 200 of these devices to a local pawn shop.

Court filings indicate that Southerland was indicted last month on charges of “willfully and knowingly embezzling, stealing, and converting to his own use cellular telephones” owned by the government. His arrest occurred last week.

Federal officials accused Southerland of directing an employee at the pawn shop to sell the phone “in parts” only to bypass the U.S. House’s mobile device management software, which “enables the House to remotely secure and monitor its phones.”

The alleged scheme was first discovered when one of the phones that Southerland is accused of stealing was sold in its entirety on eBay. When the buyer first turned on the phone, it displayed a phone number for the House of Representatives Technology Service Desk.  

The buyer then called that number, and congressional employees discovered that several phones purchased by Southerland were unaccounted for.