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.