Minnesota Wi-Fi hacker gets 18 years in prison for terrorizing neighbors {& politicians} (Yahoo)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Jeff Hughes | Digital Trends – Tue, Jul 12, 2011

Minnesota hacker Barry Ardolf was sentenced to an 18-year term in a federal prison this Tuesday. Ardolf had terrorized a neighboring family for two years through a carefully planned campaign involving a hijacked Wi-Fi network to harass, frame and embarrass the next-door neighbors in every facet of their lives.

Ardolf’s obsessive passive-aggression was apparently ignited in late 2008 when his neighbors, Matt and Bethany Kostolnik, filed a police report against him. The Kostolniks had a 4-year old son who wandered over to their next-door-neighbors property shortly after moving into the Minnesota suburb of Blaine. Ardolf, 46 and a father of two, had reportedly picked the boy up carried him back to the couple and then kissed the child on the lips. Ardolf was offended when the cops were called and vowed his revenge like every good villain.

The man, a Medtronic computer technician, downloaded a Wi-Fi hacking program to tear into his neighbors WEP encryption. Ardolf created a fake Myspace page as well as several fake emails for Matt Kostolnik. The hacker then posted child porn on the Myspace page and emailed the same child porn to co-workers at Kostolnik’s law office.

To top it all off, the Blaine hacker sent death threats to Vice President Joe Biden and other politicians from Kostolnik’s Yahoo account. This granted Kostolnik a visit from the secret service who had traced the emails back to his IP address. One of the emails told Biden, “I swear to God I’m going to kill you!”
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more: http://news.yahoo.com/minnesota-wi-fi-hacker-gets-18-years-prison-032803295.html




(emphasis added)

Now can we PLEEEEEEEEZE put Murdoch on trial in Minnesota? Judges there know what to do!

[Mimosa]

1. Ardolf really earned the 18 year sentence

And he needs to serve as an example to the likeminded. What he did has the potential to destroy people's lives. :(

[AverageJoe90]

6. Guy's a real asshole, but........

18 years wasn't quite warranted here. How about 10?

[FormerDittoHead]

2. Wow. Came to say it was excessive, but I can't say that now. n/t

[Booster]

3. Now, that just plain creepy, not to mention, frightening.

[Strelnikov_]

4. Minnesota nice? n/t

[jberryhill]

5. I hear it gets pretty cold up there for months

Of the Minnesotans I've known personally, they blame this kind of thing on the weather.