Former Timberwolves employee pleads guilty to computer crime - ESPN

A former Minnesota Timberwolves employee pled guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized computer access, according to court records reviewed by ESPN, after being fired and arrested in March for allegedly stealing thousands of internal files, including «strategic NBA information,» from a Timberwolves team executive.

Somak Sarkar, 33, also faced a felony third-degree burglary charge, but that charge was dismissed Wednesday. Sarkar, who previously served as a coaching analyst for the Timberwolves, is scheduled to be sentenced July 9.

His attorney declined to comment. The Timberwolves didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Previously, a source told ESPN that the team wouldn't pursue criminal charges against Sarkar.

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.

Another employee was able to recover the hard drive from Sarkar, and the team determined, after a forensic analysis, that he had accessed more than 5,000 files and downloaded them onto another device.

Sarkar was arrested, and police executed a search warrant at his home, where they found