By NWV Senior Political News Writer, Jim Kouri

In what should have been a huge news story regarding the U.S. capital’s Swamp, especially during the previous administration, another Obama appointee to the Homeland Security Department was indicted on Friday in criminal case involving theft of equipment and documents.

A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia handed down an indictment listing 16 criminal charges against the former Acting Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and one of his subordinates for the suspected stealing of DHS material.

Their theft of proprietary software and classified databases from the U.S. government was part of a criminal plot to defraud the U.S. government under President Barack Obama.

While the case and its particulars were already suspected by the Obama administration officials, it is now under Attorney General Bill Barr that these suspects were investigated and are now on their way to be prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Benczkowski and U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Shea for the District of Columbia, DHS Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari and Inspector General Tammy L. Whitcomb for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) made the announcement on Friday, but the nation’s largest news media outlets were slow to cover it.

The grand jury indictment charges Charles K. Edwards, 59, of Sandy Spring, Maryland, and Murali Yamazula Venkata, 54, of Aldie, Virginia, with conspiracy to commit theft of government property and to defraud the United States, theft of government property, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

The indictment also charges Venkata with destruction of records.

According to the allegations in the indictment, from October 2014 to April 2017, Edwards, Venkata, and others executed a scheme to defraud the U.S. government by stealing confidential and proprietary software from DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), along with sensitive government databases containing personal identifying information (PII) of DHS and USPS employees, so that Edwards’s company, Delta Business Solutions, could later sell an enhanced version of DHS-OIG’s software to the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Agriculture at a profit.

Although Edwards had left DHS-OIG in December 2013, he continued to use his friendship with Venkata and other DHS-OIG employees to steal the software and the sensitive government databases.

While the Democrats and the news media appear to ignore what amounts to a government scandal, law enforcement officers at all levels – federal, state and local departments – believe this theft is the work of treasonous Democratic Party members and should be prosecuted like the enemies of the state should be:

“The indictment further alleges that, in addition to stealing DHS-OIG’s software and the sensitive government databases, Venkata and others also assisted Edwards by reconfiguring his laptop so that he could properly upload the stolen software and databases, provided troubleshooting support whenever Edwards required it, and helped him build a testing server at his residence with the stolen software and databases, which contained PII.

A further part of the alleged scheme, Edwards retained software developers in India for the purpose of developing his commercial alternative of DHS-OIG’s software,” said the Trial Attorney David B. Kent.

© 2020 NWV – All Rights Reserved

Contact Jim Kouri – E-Mail: COPmagazine@aol.com