Justice Department contractor sentenced after gambling away government phone fraud proceeds

A former Department of Justice contractor who admitted stealing and reselling thousands of government-issued cell phones was sentenced Tuesday to a little more than a year in federal prison after prosecutors said he blew much of the money on gambling. King’s theft of thousands of government phones was a brazen betrayal of the public trust that drained taxpayers of more than a million dollars. He then squandered the stolen money on gambling, luxury vacations, and a high‑end vehicle.