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NYPD cop arrested for hacking officer emails – Metro US

NYPD cop arrested for hacking officer emails

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UPDATE:An NYPD detective from Bronxville may have spent upwards of $4,000 on hacking services to break into fellow officers’ email accounts andrisked a year in prisonall so he could spy on the mother of his child, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said at a press conference on Tuesday.

“It wasn’t particularly widespread,” Kelly said of the hacking, which involved a number of personal email accounts belonging to 19 active police officers, one retired cop and one administrative NYPD staffer.”It was in my understanding narrowly related to the relationship that he had with this person.”

Edwin Vargas, 42, was arrested for allegedlyhacking into 43 personal e-mail accounts and one cellphone. He is also accused ofillegally obtaining information about two officers from a federal database to which he had access based on his status as an NYPD detective.

“Of all places, the police department is not a workplace where one should have to be concerned about an unscrupulous fellow employee,”FBI Assistant Director in Charge George Venizelos said in a press release.”Unlike the e-mail accounts, the defendant didn’t need to pay anyone to gain access to the [National Crime Information Center]database. But access is not authorization, and he had no authorization.”

Vargas has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit computer hacking and one count of computer hacking. Each count carries a sentence of up to one year in prison.