A software engineer hired by alternative media firm Leon Henry has been found guilty of planting two “time bombs” in the company’s computers, according to a statement from the Westchester District Attorney’s Office. The nine felony convictions carry a potential sentence of 14 years.
The non-jury trial ended with engineer Peter MacDonald being found guilty of two counts of grand larceny, five counts of computer tampering and two counts of falsifying business records by New York state Supreme Court Justice Daniel D. Angiolillo. The trial ended earlier this week.
MacDonald, who had been a computer service contractor for the Scarsdale, NY, firm since the early 1980s, planted two programs designed to destroy data in the company’s files, said the DA’s office. The first program was activated in April 1997, at which time MacDonald charged the company $5,000 in repair fees. Re-entering data and other costs brought the total damage costs to $24,000, according to DA’s office.
The second program was activated on Nov. 4, 1998, causing $10,500 in damages.
Evidence of the malicious programs was discovered by a new computer contractor, who alerted the District Attorney’s High-Tech Crimes Bureau. According to the Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office, the case was one of the first of its kind to be brought in New York state.
Sentencing for MacDonald has been set for Sept. 6. Neither MacDonald nor his attorney were available for comment at deadline.
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