Steven Kreytak reports that a Galveston man was sentenced by a federal judge to 27 months in federal prison for hacking into computers of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Alabama Department of Public Safety, Houston County, Alabama and the West Virginia Chiefs of Police Association.
Higinio O. Ochoa III, who pleaded guilty in June to accessing a protected computer without authorization, had faced up to five years in prison. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks ordered him to pay more than $14,000 in restitution.
Ochoa hacked into the computers in February and downloaded personal and confidential information, deleted data and defaced Websites, according to U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman’s office.
Read more on Statesman.
Ochoa, known as @Anonw0rmer on Twitter, was part of Cabincr3w. He was caught, in part, because in defacing web sites, he uploaded a picture of his girlfriend’s chest. The photo’s EXIF data revealed that it was taken with an iPhone 4 in Australia. Ars Technica described how law enforcement followed the digital breadcrumbs to identify Ochoa.
Update: The U.S. Attorney’s Office sent me a statement about the sentencing and indicated that they felt the sentence was appropriate:
Today in Austin, 31-year-old Higinio O. Ochoa, III, of Galveston, TX, was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $14,062.17 restitution for accessing protected computers without authorization announced United States Attorney Robert Pitman, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Armando Fernandez and Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven C. McCraw.
On June 25, 2012, the self-proclaimed associate of computer hacker groups known as “Anonymous” and “CabinCr3w” pleaded guilty to the charge. By pleading guilty, Ochoa admitted that in February 2012, he hacked into computers belonging to the Texas Department of Public Safety; Alabama Department of Public Safety; Houston County, Alabama; and, the West Virginia Chiefs of Police Association. Ochoa further admitted that he unlawfully downloaded personal and confidential information, deleted data, engaged in website defacement, made stolen information available to others and boasted about his criminal activities online.
This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Alabama Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Devlin prosecuted this case on behalf of the Government.