'Not guilty' plea in Utah cop site hacking case

Police twitter feed doesn't wait for court hearing

By Joe Fay, 16th April 2012

An Ohio man pleaded not guilty today to charges that he hacked into a pair of police websites in Salt Lake City, Utah in January.

John Anthony Borell III, a 21 year old from Ohio, made the plea at an arraignment hearing in Salt Lake City today, AP reports. He faces up to ten years inside and a $250,000 fine if found guilty on the charges.

He was arrested last month after the websites of the Utah Chiefs of Police Association and Salt Lake City Police Department were hacked back in January. Borell has been required to live in a halfway house in the run-up to his court appearance.

Borell was reportedly tracked down by the FBI via a Twitter address he allegedly used to claim responsibility for the attacks to local media. The FBI used subpoenas to obtain the messages.

The attack on the Salt Lake City Police Department site allegedly accessed details of citizens' reports of crimes, including the personal data of informants.

The attacks on the Utah sites coincided with a wave of attacks by Anonymous and were, inevitably, attributed to the hacktivist group.

The Salt Lake City Police Department apparently spent $33,000 sorting out its website after the attack.

Today it took to Twitter to publicize the Borell case, immediately drawing flak from Anonymous non-reps AntiS3curityOPS for apparently declaring Borell guilty ahead of the actual trial.

salt lake city police tweet on hack case

Salt Lake City cops are pretty sure they know who done it

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