Two Indian Americans sentenced for stealing sensitive government data

Three former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees, including two Indian Americans, have been sentenced for a conspiracy to steal proprietary US government software and sensitive law-enforcement databases for use in a commercial venture.

Sonal Patel, 49, of Sterling, Virginia, was sentenced to two years of probation in a Washington, DC, court on January 26, according to a Justice Department press release. In April 2019, Patel pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of government propertytheft of government property.

Murali Y. 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.

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The trio pleads not guilty and have been released on bail. Their next hearing is in May.

Charles K. 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.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Edwards was the former Acting Inspector General of the DHS Office of Inspector General (DHS-OIG). Patel and Venkata were employed in DHS-OIG’s information technology department. Edwards, Patel, and Venkata were all previously employed at the US Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG).

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Edwards, Patel, and Venkata conspired to steal proprietary US software and databases containing sensitive law-enforcement information and the personally identifiable information (PII) of over 200,000 federal employees from DHS-OIG and USPS-OIG.

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 PII to software developers located in India.

After Venkata learned of the investigation, he deleted incriminating text messages and other communications in an effort to obstruct the investigation, according to court documents.