It is a case in which somebody is mistreating their status. A previous chief information security officer has ordered costly networking equipment for the county government and then sells it on eBay due to which he has punished for two years in prison.
For Horry County in South Carolina, Terry Shawn Petrill, 48, of Myrtle Beach was the IT Security Director. And there he was working for more than 12 years. Moreover, as per the court documents, between June 11, 2015, and August 23, 2018, he ordered 41 Cisco 3850 switches. And these switches were expected to be installed on the Horry County network.
Petrill informed other IT staff members after accepting the deliveries of the switches that he would watch out the installation himself. However, he sold those devices to third-parties and took the money, rather than installing them on the network.
Those network switches were costly. Some of them were from Cisco brands and cost at above $20,000. According to agents, Petrill provides nine of them at the auction on eBay and other websites. However, they don’t have any information about the other switches.
Furthermore, Petrill’s proceedings were not revealed until an inventory audit in December 2018, a month after he left the government. An FBI inquiry resulted in the previous IT Security Director, who found guilty of stealing the 41 switches back in November 2019. Moreover, the offence cost Horry County government $345,266. And the former IT Security Director, Petrill have to pay back the amount.
Currently, Petrill was punished for two years in federal prison this week, accompanied by three years of court-ordered supervision.
According to US Attorney Peter McCoy Jr,
“Those who steal from our local governments are raiding the South Carolina taxpayers. This is unacceptable, and as this case shows we will seek prison time. And restitution against those who engage in such theft. I appreciate the dedicated work of our law enforcement partners and government officials in Horry County who provided critical assistance in this case.”
