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Cyber "Sextortionist" Gets Stiff 6-Year Sentence
Photo by Gina Sanders via Shutterstock
A man who hacked into the computer of more than 100 women, read their emails, spied on them through webcams, obtained nude pictures and in some cases threatened to release them publicly was sentenced to six years in prison yesterday.Federal Judge George King handed down the stiff penalty to Luis Mijangos, 32, of Santa Ana that he said was a warning to other hackers, The Associated Press reports.
"Society has to understand that if you engage in this type of behavior, it's no joke," King said. "You are going to jail and going to jail for a long time."
Mijangos was able to hack into the accounts of women by sending malware disguised as links to songs and videos. In one case, he did post a nude picture of a woman on her friend's MySpace page.
This woman, who spoke at the sentencing, said Mijangos harassed her and threatened to release nude photos to her employer every time she signed onto her computer at work. She said the traumatic experience makes it hard for her to go online at all.
"He haunts me every time I use the computer," she said. "You don't have to be in jail to feel trapped."
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