Hacker places risqué photos of women on their Facebook pages
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Joseph Bernard Campbell
By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune
Published: July 20, 2011
Updated: July 20, 2011 - 6:24 PM
Published: July 20, 2011
Updated: July 20, 2011 - 6:24 PM
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At least 19 women were victimized by a computer hacker who broke into their email accounts, captured risqué photographs of the women and then swapped them for the women's Facebook profile pictures, authorities say.
The hacker, Joseph Bernard Campbell, 24, of Largo, has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of cyberstalking and unauthorized access to a computer, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Tampa. He is scheduled to enter his plea Aug. 5 before U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzara.
The women "were devastated," said Lt. Bill Sohl of the Belleair Police Department. "All of a sudden they were getting phone calls from their friends, saying, 'Do you know what's on your Facebook page?' "
Campbell acknowledged hacking into somewhere between 350 and 500 email accounts, added Sohl, who said Campbell knew many of the victims from a local private high school. Campbell found and used nude and semi nude photographs from at least 19 women's' accounts, Sohl said.
Campbell's plea agreement says he posted the victims' private photos and videos on various websites "to harass the victims and cause them emotional distress."
Campbell's attorney, Anne Borghetti, said she could not discuss the case.
One method Campbell used, Sohl said, was to send emails to the women saying they had received a greeting card. The email instructed the recipients to type in their email addresses and passwords, but did not lead to any greeting cards.
Campbell would use the addresses and passwords to look into the accounts, where he found photographs, Sohl said. Some of the women had sent risqué photographs to their boyfriends, who were stationed overseas in the military, Sohl said.
Campbell would then break into the women's Facebook accounts and make the risqué pictures their profile pictures, visible to all, Sohl said. He would also post a link to a website called Pinellas County Sluts, which had photographs of all of the women on it. The site was taken down early in the investigation, Sohl said. The plea agreement says Campbell also posted to a site called "Dumpster Sluts" and a forum called "Revenge."
"He was very computer savvy," Sohl said. "He worked on a computer all the time." Sohl said Campbell worked for a temp agency.
Each of the two charges Campbell has agreed to plead guilty to carries a maximum possible penalty of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, although Campbell would likely receive a lesser term under sentencing guidelines.
The plea agreement also calls for Campbell to forfeit his laptop and desktop computers.
Sohl said the case should serve as a warning about what can happen. "This sort of stuff needs to be out there," he said, "so people understand they have to watch what they send."
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