A Portland, Oregon, hacker who was responsible for accessing hundreds of email accounts and stealing nude photos, including those of celebrities, has been sentenced to six months in prison plus two years of probation, according to the Associated Press.
District Judge John A. Kronstadt also issued a $3,000 fine to Andrew Helton, a hacker who pleaded guilty in February to stealing 161 nude photos of 13 people, including celebrities. The judge called the scam a “very serious invasion of privacy.”
However, authorities said they do not believe Helton leaked any of the stolen images. As Helton was arrested in 2013 – before Fappening, the nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence, Scarlett Johansson, Gabrielle Union and many others that were widely circulated online in August 2014 are believed to have been leaked from another source.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie S. Christensen asked the judge to sentence Hacker to at least one year in prison, explaining in her statements that “for more than two years, defendant Andrew Helton targeted unsuspecting victims with phishing emails. He hacked into their private emails, gaining access to their most private communications. He systematically stole nude photographs of the victims and stored them on his own computer for personal use.”
However, Helton's lawyer argues that he should not be imprisoned because the fishing technique he used was not technologically advanced. Helton, who has reportedly been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, said in a letter to the judge, "For the past ... five years or more, I have been a dead man, so to speak. Mental illness has intruded into my life and encompassed everything. I have a better life now than I could have ever imagined." He said his manic and compulsive behavior has led him to carry out a program that he still does not fully understand.
“All I did was basically copy and paste,” he wrote. He said he didn’t target people, but simply found various online contact lists. “Those who read about my case may picture me in a room plotting to exploit people,” Helton wrote. “The truth is, when it happened, it was usually with tears and pain.”
