Insider Stole CENTCOM Computers That Wound Up on eBay

Scott Duty, a former civilian CENTCOM employee, copped to the theft after a supervisor tasked Duty with taking stock of the very inventory he filched from U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base. 

He had sold the laptops, worth $5,499, to a business in Brandon, Fla., which then put them on eBay.

A technology vendor that custom-manufactured the computers for CENTCOM first noticed them advertised there and alerted base officials on May 1, 2013.

That's when Duty's boss asked for the accounting.

"Duty conducted the inventory and reported to the chief that 22 of the 27 computers from the supplier were accounted for," a plea agreement states. "Shortly thereafter, Duty confessed to the chief that he had stolen the five missing computers and sold them to the business."

Four of the computers were recovered.

But there's no evidence of a data breach, the Justice Department says.

Before the robbery, Duty had been assigned to CENTCOM’s J6 joint communications directorate.