House IT Staff Uncover Government Phone Scandal After Citizen Reports Misuse of Devices on eBay.
A House IT desk employee made the unlikely call to House IT helpdesk, alerting staff to a scheme in which hundreds of government cell phones were being sold on the online auction site eBay. The phones had been purchased by Christopher Southerland, who had ordered 240 brand-new phones for committee staffers as a sysadmin in 2023, far exceeding the number of available workers.
He then allegedly shipped the devices to his home address and resold over 200 cell phones to a local pawn shop on condition that they would only sell parts. However, at some point one phone was sold intact online. A buyer discovered it was not operating system-activated but instead showed an automated service number for the House of Representatives Technology Service Desk.
According to government reports this led to a full investigation revealing Southerland had also failed to account for several other phones purchased by him during his role. The total cost for the scheme is believed to be over $150,000. Southerland was indicted early in December 2025 but was not arrested until January 8th of this year and released after pledging his innocence.
Critics are suggesting that a lack of oversight may have led to this scandal.
A House IT desk employee made the unlikely call to House IT helpdesk, alerting staff to a scheme in which hundreds of government cell phones were being sold on the online auction site eBay. The phones had been purchased by Christopher Southerland, who had ordered 240 brand-new phones for committee staffers as a sysadmin in 2023, far exceeding the number of available workers.
He then allegedly shipped the devices to his home address and resold over 200 cell phones to a local pawn shop on condition that they would only sell parts. However, at some point one phone was sold intact online. A buyer discovered it was not operating system-activated but instead showed an automated service number for the House of Representatives Technology Service Desk.
According to government reports this led to a full investigation revealing Southerland had also failed to account for several other phones purchased by him during his role. The total cost for the scheme is believed to be over $150,000. Southerland was indicted early in December 2025 but was not arrested until January 8th of this year and released after pledging his innocence.
Critics are suggesting that a lack of oversight may have led to this scandal.
I mean, who would've thought our govt phones could be used for personal gain on eBay? It's like they're selling our own devices like they're old TVs or something! 
But what really gets me is that one phone was sold and it just had a wrong number on the screen... how hard is it to check if a device is even working, right? 
I'm no expert, but it seems like some major red flags were ignored. And now this guy's been indicted for over $150k... that's crazy! 
Can't say I'd be surprised if more people are involved or if there was some kind of cover-up going on.
and make a pretty penny on the side. I mean, I'd do the same thing if I didn't have to deal with all these weird IT issues at work 
. But for real though, $150k is some serious cash... you could buy a lot of lattes with that money 
️. Guess the government's phone service needs a little extra supervision 
.
. It's like, you'd think with all the oversight and whatnot, someone would've caught wind of this sooner. But I guess sometimes these things just fly under the radar until someone speaks up.
. I hope he gets what's coming to him eventually... or at least has to answer for his actions 
So some dude Christopher Southerland buys way too many brand new phones for his committee staffers and then sells like 200 of them online... but not to anyone, really. He's all "ship to my home address" aka he's just hoarding them! 
. Anyway, some ppl are saying that lack of oversight might be the issue here 
so maybe we should review gov procurement processes? 
