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Check out our News Archive for more stories involving the Task Force!
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Felony counts filed in altered grades A Laguna Creek teen could face 3 years at CYA in computer hacking incident. Ramon Coronado, Sacramento Bee Eight felony computer theft charges were filed Thursday in Sacramento Juvenile Court against a Laguna Creek High School student who is accused of hacking into the school computer to change grades. "I want to send a clear message that what he did was wrong," Deputy District Attorney Sue Wilson said of the charges that could have been filed as misdemeanors. The teenager, who is not being named because he is a minor, has been expelled from school and is scheduled to be arraigned next month on the charges that carry a maximum punishment of three years in custody at the California Youth Authority. The teenager is the sixth high school student in Sacramento County to be charged in the past two months with computer hacking in what authorities say are unrelated incidents. A seventh student, also from Laguna Creek High School, faces an expulsion hearing Monday and is under investigation for possible criminal charges. On Tuesday, the second of two Natomas High School 17-year-olds arrested on felony computer theft charges pleaded guilty to charges that were reduced to misdemeanors. He was sentenced to perform 100 hours of community service and placed on six months of informal probation. The Natomas teenager's punishment was the same as that of his accomplice, who pleaded guilty last month. The two 17-year-olds were accused of changing their grades to A's and mistakenly changing the grades of more than 18,000 students in the Natomas Unified School District. Three Sheldon High School students, whose alleged hacking compromised the personal information of 70,000 current and former students, are expected back in court Wednesday on similar felony computer theft charges. The latest Laguna Creek High School student to be charged is accused of using a teacher's password overheard in class to gain entry into the school computer system. When he accessed the system, he found a spreadsheet of about 3,000 computer users and their passwords. He allegedly used Principal Doug Craig's password to navigate his way though the system, school officials reported. The student changed his F's in physics and French and his D in pre-calculus to A's. He also changed the school record of his parents' cell and home phones, according to school officials. He also changed grades for another student who observed the hacking during computer class to keep him from telling others, authorities reported. The teenager, who is 17, disabled security software on his school computer that allowed his teacher to monitor students' computer use. A keystroke-logging device and related software were found on the same computer, according to investigative reports. Also found in a police search of the teenager's Elk Grove home were aluminum-lined, cylindrical potato-chip containers commonly referred to as "C-antennas" used to intercept wireless computer signals. Unauthorized interception of wireless signals is not among the charges, Wilson said. Included in his charges is the unauthorized access of names and Social Security numbers of nearly 6,000 school employees. The teenager's charges are known as "wobblers," which can be filed as either misdemeanors or felonies depending on the circumstances. "This is serious conduct involving sensitive information," Wilson said of the decision to file felonies. The prosecutor said, however, the pending felony charges against the four teenagers could be reduced to misdemeanors. "We will often allow them to admit to misdemeanors if they accept responsibility and behave themselves," Wilson said. "But each case is different. Each kid is different. Each family is different," the prosecutor said.
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