Former SSA Security Guard Admits to Stealing Electronics Worth Over $74,000

Baltimore, Maryland – Heath Unkart, age 26, of Hanover, Pennsylvania pleaded guilty today to theft of government property.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Special Agent in Charge Michael McGill of the Social Security Administration (SSA) - Office of Inspector General, Philadelphia Field Division.

 From August 2014 to July 2015, Unkart was a security guard at SSA headquarters in Woodlawn, Maryland.  According to his agreement to plead guilty to the information, and had the case gone to trial, the government would have proven that Unkart stole electronic equipment, including Polycom audio/video units, an external hard drive, a projector, a camera and other items, from SSA headquarters while he was on duty. Unkart transported the equipment to his home and then placed many of the stolen items for sale on eBay.

For example, on March 30, 2015, Unkart sold three sets of stolen Polycom video conferencing equipment on eBay for $7,500 and on April 16, 2015, he sold an additional two sets of Polycom video conferencing equipment on eBay for $3,000.

On July 17, 2015, law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at Unkart’s home.  They seized numerous items, including two external hard drives, a projector, a Polycom camera, and three additional sets of Polycom conferencing units, all of which were missing from the SSA headquarters campus. In total, approximately $74,296.40 in stolen SSA equipment was recovered.

Unkart faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz has scheduled sentencing for March 4, 2016 at 2:15 p.m.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the SSA – OIG for its work in the investigation and thanked Special Assistant United States Attorney Lauren E. Perry, on detail from the Social Security Administration, who is prosecuting the case.