Hacker Robert Sanders, San Jose, CA Sentenced to a year plus restitution

Saunders Ordered to Pay Over $100,000 Restitution For Costs Incurred By Corporation When Responding To Computer Network Attack

Posted by CotoBlogzz

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA  – Robert Saunders, 30, San Jose, CA.,  was sentenced to twelve months in prison and ordered to pay $124,003.79 in restitution for attacking a corporate computer network, according to announcement by  United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch and FBI Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett.

FBI agents arrested Saunders on May 8, 2014, in Portland, Oregon. On September 12, 2014, he was ordered released on bond and remains out of custody.  He will begin serving the sentence on July 29, 2016.

Saunders, pleaded guilty on February 24, 2016, to one count of intentional damage to a protected computer. As part of his plea agreement, Saunders admitted he intentionally accessed the computer network of a Silicon Valley corporation based in San Mateo that provides integrated business management solutions over a web-based architecture.  On numerous occasions between July 26, 2012, and August 31, 2012, Saunders accessed the computer network of the publicly-traded corporation without authorization and caused losses with an aggregate value of approximately $189,000.

Saunders admitted that on one occasion he changed information for a demonstration account belonging to a retail business customer of the corporation and that his actions prevented potential customers from accessing the test account. On other occasions, Saunders obtained information through his unlawful access to a database and posted offensive content in the corporation’s test account. The corporation incurred approximately $189,000 in costs responding to the offense and restoring its systems.
          
Saunders was originally indicted by a federal grand jury on April 30, 2014. A Second Superseding Indictment was filed on February 24, 2016, charging him with one count of Intentional Damage to a Protected Computer.  Pursuant to his plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to the intentional damage to a protected computer charge. 

The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Lucy H. Koh, U.S. District Judge on June 1, 2016. Judge Koh also sentenced the defendant to a three-year period of supervised release and ordered him to forfeit property seized during the execution of a search warrant at his apartment, including computer equipment used to facilitate the offense.