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25 Years For Webcam Hacking
Published Thu, 2007-07-12 21:42 Internet
Source: http://www.technologynewsdaily.com/node/7410
Mark Wayne Miller, age 47, of Dayton, was sentenced in United States District Court here today to a total of 300 months imprisonment followed by supervised release for the rest of his life.
Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio and J. Mark Batts, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cincinnati Field Division; announced the sentence handed down today by Senior United States District Judge Walter H. Rice.
Miller pled guilty in January, 2006 to a two-count Information charging him with one count of Sexual Exploitation of Children, arising out of Miller's successful efforts to persuade minor-age girls to engage in sexually explicit conduct for him in front of webcams, and one count of Computer Intrusion, arising out of his equally successful efforts to secretly intercept, watch, and record live webcam footage of minor-age girls, without the girls knowing that Miller was watching and recording. According to a statement of facts read in court and confirmed by Miller, he developed sexual relationships with minor-aged females over the Internet, usually in online chat rooms. Using a fictitious name and a photo of an unknown young male, Miller pretended to be a young man and through his "chat" persuaded the minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct in front of active webcams.
Miller watched and recorded the girls, and distributed at least some of the recorded footage to others. Miller also contacted many of these minors by phone. His activities were exposed after one of the girls sent a love letter to the fictitious young male, addressed to Miller's former place of employment. Miller's former employer received the letter, found additional evidence relating to child pornography while cleaning out Miller's work area, contacted some of the minors, and notified local law enforcement, which contacted the FBI. Miller was taken into custody shortly thereafter.
According to the same statement of facts, Miller also "eavesdropped" on minors' webcams.
"Miller was a high-tech video voyeur," Lockhart said. "He would 'phish' for the minors' passwords to a popular internet portal then secretly gain access to the minors' webcam sessions."
When these minors activated their webcams, Miller watched and recorded them without the victims knowing it.
Miller was on probation with the State of Ohio and was a registered sex offender when he was arrested on November 28, 2005. Miller has been in the custody of the U.S. Marshal since his arrest.
"All of us, especially parents, must make sure we communicate with our children and let them know of the dangers that exist in the virtual world, as well as teaching them how to be safe on the Internet," Lockhart said.
Lockhart commended the cooperative efforts by the FBI agents who investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Vipal Patel who prosecuted the case.
[Original Article on the Techology News Daily web site ]