Former DC Government Employee Pleads Guilty to Theft and Trafficking of Government Laptops

            WASHINGTON – Darrell A. Smith, Sr., 56, of Newark, New Jersey, pleaded guilty Tuesday in District of Columbia Superior Court to three counts of first-degree theft and one count of trafficking in stolen property for stealing D.C. government-issued laptops and selling many of them for personal profit, announced Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

             The Honorable Andrea Hertzfeld accepted Smith’s plea and scheduled sentencing for April 17, 2026.

            According to court documents, in 2022, while serving as an Information Technology manager for the DC Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF), Smith used his official badge access to enter secured DHCF storage areas and remove multiple Apple MacBook Pro laptops purchased for agency use as part of a $1.6 million technology procurement. Each laptop was valued at more than $3,000. Smith kept some of the stolen devices, gave others away as gifts, and sold several for as much as $1,250 each, retaining the proceeds.

            When DHCF officials began inquiring about the missing devices, Smith falsely denied knowledge of their whereabouts. During his guilty plea, he admitted to using his official system access to delete security camera footage from an IT storage room to conceal the theft. In total, Smith’s actions caused a loss to the District government of at least $30,000.

            Joining the announcement was Brian L. Schwalb, Attorney General for the District of Columbia; and Jeffery Carroll, Interim Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department.

            In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Pirro, Interim Chief Carroll, and D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb commended investigators from the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and acknowledged valuable assistance provided by investigators from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.

            The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Micah Bluming, on detail from the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, assigned to prosecute matters involving fraud and public corruption impacting the District and its residents.

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