Former federal employees sentenced for conspiracy to steal government databases

By SDCN Editor

Washington, D.C.–Three former Department of Homeland Security employees were sentenced in District of Columbia court for a conspiracy to steal proprietary software and sensitive law-enforcement databases from the U.S. government for use in a commercial venture.

Charles Edwards, 63, of Sandy Spring, Maryland, was sentenced to one year and six months in prison. In January 2022, Edwards pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of government property and to defraud the United States and theft of government property. 

Sonal Patel, 49, of Sterling, Virginia, was sentenced to two years of probation. In April 2019, Patel pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of government property.

Murali Venkata, 58, of Aldie, Virginia, was sentenced to four months in prison. In April 2022, a jury convicted Venkata of conspiracy to commit theft of government property and to defraud the United States, theft of government property, wire fraud, and destruction of records.  

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Edwards was the former Acting Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General. Patel and Venkata were employed in the agency’s information technology department. Edwards, Patel, and Venkata were all previously employed in the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General. They conspired to steal proprietary U.S. software and databases containing sensitive law-enforcement information, and the personally identifiable information of over 200,000 federal employees from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, and USPS Office of Inspector General. They planned to use the stolen software and databases to create a commercial software product to be offered for sale to government agencies. As part of the scheme, the co-conspirators disclosed the stolen software and databases containing the personnel information to software developers located in India. After Venkata learned of the investigation, he deleted incriminating text messages and other communications to obstruct the investigation.

The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General and USPS Office of Inspector General investigated the case.