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Ex-Homeland Security Inspector General Admits Stealing Info to Sell Back to Government

At both the DHS and USPS, Charles K. Edwards had access to sensitive employee information, which he later stole to support his new company.

A former high-ranking Department of Homeland Security official has admitted to scheming to steal personal information and software from two government agencies—and then selling it right back to them. Charles K. Edwards, the former acting Inspector General of DHS’s Office of Inspector General, pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges for conspiracy to steal government property and theft of government property. Edwards worked for the DHS from 2008 to 2013 and prior to that worked at the USPS’s Office of Inspector General. At both the DHS and USPS, Edwards had access to systems holding sensitive personal employee information and the agencies’ software systems. After leaving DHS, Edwards founded Delta Business Solutions. Prosecutors said that, from 2015 to 2017, he stole software from DHS and USPS, as well as databases with employee information, so he could develop a commercially owned version of already-existing case management systems to sell back to government agencies.