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U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas
1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699
Telephone: (214) 659 -8600
Fax: (214) 767 - 2898
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Go to . . . CCIPS Home Page || Justice Department Home PageUnited States Attorney Paul E. Coggins announced today that Patrick W. Gregory, also known as "MostHateD," pled guilty today in federal court before the Honorable United States District Judge Jorge A. Solis to a one count information charging him with conspiracy to commit telecommunications fraud and computer hacking, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 371, 1029 (a)(2) and 1030 (a)(5). Gregory, age 19, of Houston, Texas, faces a maximum punishment of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. He could be ordered by the court to make full restitution to the victims of his crime. According to papers filed in court, from 1997 though May 1999, Patrick W. Gregory was a member of an on-line computer hacker organization known as "total-kaOs," and later was a member of another on-line computer hacker organization called "globalHell." In fact, Gregory and Chad Davis, also known as "Mindphasr" co-founded "globalHell" in February 1998. By using stolen unauthorized access devices, such as telephone numbers, Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) combinations and credit card numbers, Patrick W. Gregory illegally accessed numerous teleconferences provided by victims AT&T, MCI, Sprint, Latitude Communications and various other telecommunications providers.
During the conspiracy, Gregory and other co-conspirators used the unauthorized access devices they stole to set up teleconferences for various members of "total-kaOs" and "globalHell" so that they could communicate with each other and discuss matters relating to telecommunications theft and computer hacking. Gregory trafficked in unauthorized access devices by accessing illegal teleconferences by using unauthorized PIN numbers he received from friends who belonged to other online hacking organizations. He also provided unauthorized access devices to other members of "globalHell" and "total-kaOs" so that these members could also steal teleconference services from the victim companies. Gregory admitted he knew that almost on a daily basis, "total-kaOs" and "globalHell" routinely accessed teleconference services with unauthorized access devices to steal free telephone service in order to share and coordinate their attacks upon protected computers throughout the world. Each of these teleconferences routinely lasted in excess of six hours.
Patrick W. Gregory also used these unauthorized access devices to listen in and/or disrupt teleconferences of legitimate third parties using the telecommunications services of these victim companies. Specifically, in June 1998, Gregory participated in an AT&T teleconference for which he and others caused billing in excess of $4,200 to an innocent third party for using these conference services. In October 1998, Gregory, using stolen teleconference access information from Latitude Communications, gained access to Dallas Community College District's teleconference system and caused teleconference classes at the College to be disrupted and caused a telephone charge in excess of $18,500.00 to be made to the College.
Patrick W. Gregory also admitted to trafficking in credit card information and computer login password combinations with members of "total-kaOs" and "globalHell." Acting with other "globalHell" members, Gregory attacked and gained unauthorized access to multiple protected computer systems throughout the United States and around the world. After Gregory and others gained access to these computers, they placed various codes, programs and files on these computers. Typically, Gregory and his co-conspirators would replace the legitimate web pages of victims' sites with text and graphics relating to their organization "globalHell." In some instances other co-conspirator members of "total-kaOs" and "globalHell" would obtain complete and unauthorized control over a victim's system, known as "root level access." Thereafter, "total-kaOs" and "globalHell" members would intentionally crash and delete data on protected computer systems causing damage to victims' networks. These damages were sometimes financial and sometimes intangible, including the loss of faith in the victim organizations and "brand name" due to the public defacements of their web sites.
In April 1999, Patrick W. Gregory caused the transmission of a computer program that allowed him to gain unauthorized access to a protected computer owned by "1688.com". Gregory stole banking information and posted it on the Internet, compromised the sites' users personal E-mail accounts, and stole passwords and posted them on the Internet. Various members of "globalHell," the organization that he co-founded, gained access into and damaged various protected computers including those belonging to the United States Army, the United States White House, United States Cellular, Ameritech, and many others. Gregory admits that he caused loss amounts for the illegal teleconferencing and the intrusions into protected computers somewhere between $1.5 and $2.5 million.
United States Attorney Coggins praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and said, "Hackers who steal consumers' personal information for harassment or profit, or maliciously disrupt businesses' computer services, will be vigorously prosecuted. We will continue to use all our present resources to ensure that perpetrators of these crimes are punished, in federal courts, to the fullest extent of the law." United States Attorney Coggins further stated, "Because of the explosion of cybercrimes, we are fully committed to establishing in North Texas the premier regional computer forensic lab in the country. This regional lab will enable local, state and federal agencies to aggressively crack down on cybercrooks." United States Attorney Paul Coggins added that the recent launching of the Department of Justice's web site www.cybercrime.gov provides information on the growing area of crimes related to the Internet, focusing on hackers and intellectual property crime.
Assistant United States Attorney Reid Wittliff is the prosecuting attorney.
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