41 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
41 lines
2.6 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
|||
|
|
TWO JUVENILES ARRESTED IN BBS EXTORTION CASE
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
(April 26)
|
|||
|
|
Two 15-year-olds have been arrested by California authorities on charges
|
|||
|
|
they made death threats and tried to extort money from at least three computer
|
|||
|
|
bulletin board operators.
|
|||
|
|
As reported in Online Today yesterday, Encino, Calif., BBS sysop John Sands
|
|||
|
|
went to police after receiving demands for money and threats on his life in
|
|||
|
|
messages left on his board in March and the first part of this month.
|
|||
|
|
Police now say that the two suspects -- both reportedly sophomores at Seaside
|
|||
|
|
High School near Monterey, Calif. -- also are accused of making similar
|
|||
|
|
computerized threats on a Fort Ord-based Army staff sergeant and his teen-age
|
|||
|
|
son, and on another student at a private high school in the Pebble Beach,
|
|||
|
|
Calif., area.
|
|||
|
|
The juveniles were arrested at their homes in Marina by investigators who
|
|||
|
|
seized computer equipment allegedly used to transmit the threats, according to
|
|||
|
|
United Press International reporter Michael D. Harris.
|
|||
|
|
Authorities say the teen-agers, who allegedly demanded payments ranging from
|
|||
|
|
$50 to $350 from at least the three BBS sysops identified, were turned over to
|
|||
|
|
their parents while authorities decide how and where they should be prosecuted.
|
|||
|
|
The case came to light yesterday after reports surfaced that legal complaints
|
|||
|
|
had been filed by Sands, who is the chief electronics engineer for Capitol
|
|||
|
|
Records. Sands, 43, said the visitors to his private BBS demanded $350 from him
|
|||
|
|
and threatened violence if he didn't pay.
|
|||
|
|
The computer message instructed Sands to leave the money at a drop site in
|
|||
|
|
San Jose. During the investigation, Los Angeles police prepared a phony drop
|
|||
|
|
but never carried it out because they susequently received tips that led them
|
|||
|
|
to the youths, said police Lt. Fred Reno.
|
|||
|
|
Following the arrests, Sands told Harris, "It was a little scary because even
|
|||
|
|
though I suspected they were juveniles, I felt they were probably capable of
|
|||
|
|
carrying out their threats. I%m sorry to see any young person get in trouble,
|
|||
|
|
but I'm relieved that they were arrested."
|
|||
|
|
Meanwhile, according to Judy Smagula Farah of the Associated Press, the
|
|||
|
|
youths and Sands once belonged to the same computer club and used a code that
|
|||
|
|
gave them access to Sands' bulletin board.
|
|||
|
|
Reno said that if the suspects decide to plead guilty to the likely charges
|
|||
|
|
of accessing a computer system to extort money, their sentencing will occur in
|
|||
|
|
Monterey County. If they decide to fight the charges, the case -- the first of
|
|||
|
|
its kind in Los Angeles County -- will be prosecuted in Southern California.
|
|||
|
|
|