FORT PIERCE — A former senior federal prosecutor from Port St. Lucie has been indicted on charges she stole internal Department of Justice records — including a court-sealed report — and disguised them with file names like “chocolate cake recipe” and “bundt cake recipe” before emailing them to her personal accounts, U.S. Attorney John P. Heekin announced.
Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, 62, faces two counts of theft of government money or property valued at less than $1,000, one count of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations, and one count of concealment, removal, or mutilation of public records. If convicted on the most serious charge, she faces up to twenty years’ imprisonment.
The indictment alleges that Lineberger served as the Managing Assistant United States Attorney of the Fort Pierce branch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at the time of the offenses. In separate instances in late 2025, she allegedly altered the electronic file names of government records she received in her official capacity to conceal her unauthorized transmission of those records to personal email accounts.
Among the stolen materials, according to the indictment, was a DOJ report related to a criminal prosecution in the Southern District of Florida that had been court-ordered to remain under seal and prohibited from distribution or disclosure outside of DOJ. Lineberger allegedly acted knowing that her transmission of the record directly violated the court order and impaired the proper administration of the underlying criminal prosecution.
The concealment, removal, or mutilation charge carries up to three years’ imprisonment, and each theft count carries up to one year imprisonment. The case is being jointly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General.
Assistant United States Attorney Christie S. Utt from the Northern District of Florida was assigned as a special prosecutor to avoid conflicts of interest with the investigation and prosecution. Lineberger appeared for her arraignment before Southern District of Florida Chief United States Magistrate Judge William Matthewman in West Palm Beach.
An indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.