The 19 year old suspect accused of hacking into the computer of Miss Teen USA to activate its webcam, take nude photos of her without her knowledge and then threatening to post the photos online, is expected to plead guilty to extortion and computer hacking.
From NBC News:
The suspect in the “sextortion” case involving Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf and at least seven other women will plead guilty Tuesday to three counts of extortion and one count of computer hacking under a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Jared James Abrahams, 19, of Temecula, Calif., is accused of extortion for allegedly using malicious software known as malware to control the computer webcams of victims and take nude photographs or videos, and then allegedly sending emails to the victims threatening to publish the photos or otherwise harm their reputations.
Abrahams’ arrest was made public in September, at which time it was revealed that there were multiple victims in the case. Wolf expressed surprise at the time upon learning that the person who did this to her was a former high school classmate, though they were not friends in high school.
Wolf described in multiple interviews that she first suspected something was wrong when she received a message from her Facebook account that someone else had tried to access her account. Later that evening, she received an anonymous email that included attachments of nude photos of her in her own bedroom, along with a threat to publish the photos if she did not comply with the sender’s demands.
According to information contained in the plea agreement, Abrahams obtained unauthorized access to the social media accounts of his victims and changed the passwords so that he had sole access to the accounts. “When some of the extortion victims did not respond to his demands, [he] posted the naked images of the victims on their social media sites.”
Abrahams had admitted to authorities that he infected his victims’ computers with malware in order to gain unauthorized access to their webcams and take the photos. Abrahams’ attorney previously said that he wanted to take responsibility for his actions, and added that Abrahams is on the autism spectrum which “affects his ability to engage in reciprocal communications,” according to a September 27th Reuters report.
Based on the plea agreement, Abrahams faces up to 11 years in federal prison and up to $1 million in fines, as well as several probational restrictions, reports NBC News.
(Featured image credit: Today Show video clip)
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Comments
A twist on “Innocent by reason of insanity”.
Allow me to introduce this amazing item often found in desk drawers and tool boxes every where. It’s called “tape”. Likewise “post-it-notes” and “postage stamps”.
I didn’t see a link to the secret tape in question. I really must examine the evidence.
Hopefully he and a large man will have a happy marriage in prison.
No mention of 4Chan’s /b/ board. I’m kinda surprised, actually.
Prosecution was scaring him with felony sex crime which would have sent him away with the bad boys and put him on Megan’s List for life. He’ll take the long bid to stay in Level 1 prison. He will only dream about computers for the next 5 years.