Teenage Identity Thief Facebooks His Way to Youth Detention Center
Teenage Identity Thief Facebooks His Way to Youth Detention Center
Posted 08/08/2011 at 8:08am
| by Paul Lilly
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We all make stupid decisions when we're young (and sometimes when we're older), like throwing away that baseball card collection or inadvertently dropping an F-bomb in front of the folks a la A Christmas Story. Some bad decisions are worse than others, such as Rolando S. a California teen deemed a juvenile delinquent after hacking someone's Facebook account only to be charged with identity theft.
According to court documents posted on Scribd.com (contains NSFW verbiage), a California judge decided that the act of impersonating someone online constitutes identity theft. What happened was little Rolando S. received an unsolicited text message containing a password to the female victim's email account. He then used the password to log into her Facebook account and "altered her profile description in a vulgar manner."
The documents list in detail exactly what Rolando S. posted and, well, "vulgar" hits the nail on the head. Rolando's colorful description of what the female Facebook user was into earned him a court admittance with the Kings County Juvenile Academy Alpha Program for 90 days to a year, which is less than the maximum sentence of three years and three months.
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Joenbob
August 08, 2011 at 10:51pm
What actually happened was the guy received a text with the victim's email password, which he then used to get into her facebook account, post on 2 male friends' walls, and change her personal info.
He did have a previous record and was on probation for "assault with a deadly weapon" (car). He drove his car at 3 girls with the intent of scaring them.
My opinion? Poor guy got sued by rich parents. I mean seriously, the girl and guy were friends at school, both 17. Girl probably dressed sluttly, had friends who were all partiers, did poorly in school, etc. If she wasn't, why would anyone think of this as something serious and not a joke. It was her own fault for not being smart about the impression she gives through how she lives. She was just lucky that she can afford a better lawyer.
Either way this was a stupid case and the root of the problem should be looked at, not the problem itself. The actual problem is unimportant because sadly it is normal at any high school due to the general public.
TommM
August 08, 2011 at 8:41am
Doesn't seem like a week goes by without a Facebook related criminal bust. Morons posting about their heists or something like this. Certainly makes the police's job a lot easier! ;)
sammyd253
August 08, 2011 at 8:29am
I don't think it's harsh. It doesn't matter how you obtain someone elses password. You are responsible for your actions. He should have deleted the text, notified the girl to change her password, and moved on. Instead he took it a step further and not only accessed the girl's email, but her Facebook account too (and modified the girl's personal information).
Recidivist
August 08, 2011 at 8:16am
So he didn't actually hack them...he was just given their password...
Mhm, pretty harsh for something so insignificant.
Gezzer
August 08, 2011 at 12:57pm
I have a few problems with this.
Did the kid and or his lawyer prove he didn't somehow hack to get the password?
If he didn't, then why did he have the PW sent to him, does he know the victim, someone she knows, do they go to the same school, etc?
If it was truly random, why only him, did more people get the password?
I'm inclinded to think he did hack the password, it makes more sense. Then he only admitted to the things they could prove he did.
Either way I think 90 days in Juvi is a mistake, unless he has been convicted before. If a maximum prision is criminal collage, then Juvi is high school. It should of been things he would of hurt over losing without exposing him to worse offenders. Like 90 days house arrest with no internet, TV, etc, and then maybe another 90 days of comunity service.
blkpanthr
August 08, 2011 at 8:26am
If you find the key to someones car that is not yours, do you think you have the right to take it for a drive?
its still theft.
This adolescent clearly has boundry issues, hes lucky all he got was a few months in juvi. All that stuff is sealed when you turn 18, so it wont do any lasting harm, and he may think twice next time.
Recidivist
August 08, 2011 at 9:20am
I didn't say he had permission or the 'right' to do it, it's just not hacking if you're given the password.
Mhm, I hear of 'fraping' all the time, which sounds exactly like this. I agree he shouldn't have done it, but I personally wouldn't ever see it as a legal issue. I'd be interested to see what he actually posted of the girls facebook...
Edit: I didn't read that he accessed her email too. That wasn't a good idea.
blkpanthr
August 08, 2011 at 9:59am
its deffiniately a legal issue. Vandalism at the very least.
He accessed and altered someones personal property without their express permission.
The fact that he happened to stumble upon the password is irrelvent, he did not have permission by the owner.
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