A former Minnesota Timberwolves employee has pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized computer access, as relayed by Baxter Holmes of ESPN.
Somak Sarkar, 33, served as a coaching analyst for the Wolves but was arrested and fired in March for allegedly stealing thousands of internal files. That included "strategic NBA information" from a Timberwolves team executive," Holmes reported.
Neither the Timberwolves nor Sarkar's attorney have commented.
Sarkar was also facing a felony third-degree burglary charge, "but that charge will be dismissed at his July 9 sentencing, according to an official from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office in Minneapolis," Holmes wrote.
He remains unemployed.
Per Holmes:
"According to the initial complaint, Sachin Gupta, a Timberwolves executive vice president who oversees the team's analytics department, left a hard drive connected to a laptop in his office at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis on Feb. 2.
"That drive contained Gupta's personal financial information as well as private information for the team, including employment and player contracts.
"When Gupta returned to work on Feb. 5, the hard drive was missing, and subsequent surveillance reviewed by security revealed that Sarkar had twice entered Gupta's office on Feb. 3 "after looking to see if anyone could see him," the complaint stated. "He then left."
"Sarkar was fired immediately, the complaint stated."
The Timberwolves are currently in the midst of the two-day NBA Draft. They advanced to the Western Conference finals this past season, losing to the Dallas Mavericks in five games.
(Hennepin County Jail)
